After Dusk
by SuzieQuaKes
Summary: "Are you, like, out of your mind? If your best friend was killed then that means she's dead. Do you think that I . . that I associate with the dead or something? Drew, what is your problem, exactly!" CS/Contestshipping -NO vampires/NOT based on Twilight-
1. I

**[ After Dusk ]**

_UnreachableRomance_

_Brief Note: Some people said that this sorta have some similarities to Twilight. But it's not really. I haven't even read the book because it's overrated :-) But that's just my opinion._

_Anyway, enjoy.  
_

[Chapter 1]

……………

If there's anything more drearier than the weather of Kavlin, Johto – is _moving _to Kavlin, Johto because your mother - who has been living as a widow for three years - remarried. After Dad had mysteriously disappeared while exploring the treks of Saven Forest way up in Sinnoh, my Mom had promised me and my little brother, Max that she was never going to love another man.

And from this, you can see how easily that she forgot her promise. Or pretended to forget her promise. The man, Justin Carter was big, broad and pink-faced. Not exactly the best looking man in the world. But my Mom was crazy for him. He was all she ever spoke about. Justin did this, Justin did that, Justin gave this, Justin said that… and so on. I was getting irritated by how quickly she forgot about Dad and when I would go tell her this – she would fake cry, saying that all she wanted was not to be lonely. Like we weren't enough to keep her from being un-lonely.

And finally the big day came. Justin proposed to Mom – who couldn't accept faster. They celebrated their wedding at the local church a month later, with me being anything but happy. It's not that Justin wasn't nice or anything – but I just think that Mom could do a lot better. And besides, she didn't even need a man to be satisfied with her life. She had me and Max. That was enough.

"Oh would you just wipe that look of dismay off your face and be happy for me?" Mom had hissed at the wedding when she saw me sitting sedately on a chair, wearing a white gown (that my mother had forced me into. I'd have rather worn pants and a t-shirt), my face looking grim.

"I _am _happy for you," I insisted and pretended to smile. It came out as something between a leer and a sneer. Mom shook her head but didn't say anything more as she pranced about in her white wedding dress, her auburn hair in an updo as she checked up on everything before the guests started to arrive. Usually the bride had to be seated elegantly until her father came and escorted her with the '_dum-dum dum-dum_' melody in the background. But Mom _had_already married once and Gramps had died out of old age a few years back.

I remembered counting the number of flowers hung up around the banister. A hundred and seventeen. I was recounting the spidery blossoms before my brother trotted up to me, wearing a small tux. Probably something that Mom had made him to wear. He sat himself beside me and poked my stomach.

"What do you want?" I asked him, focusing on counting the flowers. The same thing as I did at Dad's funeral. I counted the number of flowers above his coffin with no body inside. They couldn't find it.

"Are you sad, May?" Max asked me and I shrugged, my eyes fixed on the flowers.

"More like mad."

"At Mom?" he wanted to know.

"I…I don't know," I had to admit, looking down at my lap. "I know it's not her fault for wanting company… but… I-I really don't know."

"But Justin said that we're going to have a dog! Isn't that great?" Max beamed. I looked at him. Oh, what did eight-year-olds know about pain anyway.

"Yeah, totally awesome," I said, just to make him happy and then looked at the flowers again and sighed. Maybe having a fourth member to the family again wasn't going _too_ bad.

--

"WHAT?!" I shrieked. Mom grimaced.

"May, calm down," she commanded. "It's not _that_ bad."

"Of course it's bad!" I exclaimed, my mouth wide open in shock.

Mom had quietly crept up to my room, a week after their marriage and broke the news to me. We were moving. As if that wasn't bad already – we were moving to Kavlin. The little depressed looking area that our family had visited when I was about ten years old. I hated everything about it. It was dark, dreary, grey, cold, rainy and so on. I had finally realized the joys of living in sunny Petalburg after that 'vacation' and was never so glad to get back to where the sun shone. And now we were _moving _to Kavlin, Johto. Not a mere vacation – but moving from the place I grew up in. The place I _loved_. Did life have to be a living hell for me?

"C'mon honey," Mom pleaded, her brows knotted. "Justin got a great job there and the job even provides a big mansion from the seventeenth century! It's going to fun!"

"Living in an ancient creepy house in a dreary grey weather does not sound like fun to me," I muttered under my breath. Mom looked like she was about to burst out crying. That's what I hate about her. She was all the drama you could live without. "Okay, okay, fine," I had to say, at last. I couldn't stand the way her chin was wobbling now. "But what about my friends?"

"You'll get new ones," Mom replied, apparently not about to cry anymore. "And you never did have many here anyway."

I would have yelled at that offensive remark if it weren't so true. I just didn't get along with people. It's like I couldn't handle the way their moods would change. Having an over-dramatic mother was enough for me.

And with that, my Mom turned to leave as if the case was closed. And in a way – it was. I was moving to Kavlin whether I liked it or not. Good-bye sun. Good-bye forever.

And that is why, I'm here right now – staring at a huge grey mansion (the ones you'd probably see at some horror movie), with rain pouring down and watching some of the men haul our stuff into the house. I'll bet that it won't even fill half – no, one-_third _of the house. The neighbors weren't very friendly. They seem to be watching us as if we were some intruders, trespassing on their area. But even if they were the nicest people in the world, I still wouldn't have liked them anyway. I just don't like Kavlin, period.

After a while, I got bored of sitting inside the car, and stepped out into the rain. I put the hood of my jacket up and ran inside as fast as I could. Inside, it wasn't so different from the rain outside. It was cold, dark and damp. The wallpapers were faded and peeled. The floors were squeaky.

Yet… there was something about this house. Something I couldn't put my finger on. The way that sometimes a chilly cold breeze would sweep into the room without any door open. The way that a scent of peppermint would go through my nose. It was like… another presence was there.

I shook my head. All the excitement of this new (or old) house, Kavlin, and moving must have mingled with my senses. Of course there was no one else here. Who would be? When the word 'ghost' went through my head – I could feel shivers running up my back.

No, I told myself sternly. This house is not haunted. Not at all.

…If only I could convince myself.

……………

_How'd ya like it? :-) Yep, a paranormal plot. :D It's short but it's the first chapter – so yeah. The plot was inspired by a friend. Thanks, Jake. _

_I think Drew's going to be introduced in the next chapter. And more details will be there too. _

_So please keep a look for the next chapter? And review?_

_Thanks :-) I would greatly appreciate it. _

_-Suzie :o)) _


	2. II

**[ After Dusk ] **

_UnreachableRomance_

[Chapter 2]

It was at the end of the week that I met him. I had been going to school for three days now and the days passed by in an uneventful matter. I met some girls who were willing to be my friends. However they were shallow and I had a strange dislike to shallow people – girls especially. I've been called a ditz myself, but ditz socializing with ditz… that doesn't seem to work out very well.

My new school, Cronk-Memorial High (CMH for short) was on a big area with a lot of grassy ground. It looked more like a campus, with rooms located around the soccer field, which was served as an auditorium. We held assemblies, prize giving, speeches, announcements – everything was done on that soccer field. There was a big roof, of course. I couldn't imagine sitting there, in the rain, listening to one of those boring announcements that I didn't even care about.

The rain fell everyday as expected. This resulted in puddles everywhere, and _that_ resulted in muddy shoes and clothes. Especially since we had to walk around such a lot in the rain when changing classes. I was never so glad to walk out the sophomore Chemistry lab, that Friday afternoon. I didn't bother to make a stop at my small locker, having everything I need already in my backpack and ran out of the building before any of my new friends could ask me to join in one of their Friday activities. Socializing would come _after_ I had settled here.

I found my Mom's violet Volvo sedan parked somewhere in the distance of the pouring rain. Using the hard Chemistry textbook in my hand as a shield from the enemy rain drops, I covered up my head and jogged to the warmth of the car, my backpack bouncing up and down on my back. I finally reached the car, and opening the back door, I threw myself down in bliss. The warm air ventilating from the heater was very consoling.

"Hi May!" Mom greeted me cheerfully, turning from the driver seat. Max was sitting beside her, as he got out of school an hour earlier than me. He was beaming and holding Ralph, the new spotted Dalmatian puppy that Justin got as he promised.

"Ralph says hi, too," my little brother said, giving a grin and pushing the dog to me. I pushed it back towards him.

"Yeah, hi," I answered, rolling my eyes. "Now get that creature away from me before it licks me with its disgusting germy tongue."

"You hurt his feelings," Max whimpered. I rolled my eyes a second time.

"Can we _please_ just get home?"

"Sure, May," Mom agreed and started the engine. The car started with a roar. Max began his usual chatter and this time it was about the 'A' he got in a Math test. I looked out of the window, drifting away to space. I had no idea that the biggest surprise of my life was in store for me.

--

I sat calmly in my seat at the couch and watched my family, all wild and in frenzy as always. Mom was sprinting about, complaining about how the dog spilled all the tomato sauce that we were going to have with spaghetti for dinner. Max was yelling that it wasn't the dog's fault and rather the '_irresponsible_' person who had so left the bowl unattained on the kitchen table, so on and so forth. Justin was looking for his precious lucky fish tie that was packed somewhere. He had a seminar with his boss and apparently wanted to look good (or feel good as looking good in a fish tie is not at all likely). I, on the other hand, had no intention of including myself in the riot that was going on.

I flipped a last month magazine and reread all the articles on Celebrity Gossip. I noticed that it was always the same people who got mentioned over and over again. In the midst of an actress talking about the new look she got, the bell rang. The sound chimed through the house, creating sound waves and echoes against the damp walls. Although we had already lived in this house for four days, everything was pretty much the same dreary state.

No one seemed to notice the bell going off and so I put the magazine down and walked over to get it. Pulling the heavy, dragging mahogany door – I lifted my eyes up and saw a boy.

The first thing I noticed about him was his pale, pale skin. So very pale. It was like something had sucked all the blood out, leaving chalky white flesh in its wake. The next thing I noticed was how dull his spinach green eyes seemed. The orbs looked heavy. As if the only thing that was keeping the eye-lids from smashing down, was will. And the third thing that I noticed was how amazingly handsome he was. Really. His perfect chartreuse tresses looked soft . . . yet they were adamant by the throttling wind that was screeching outside. He was also very dry, notwithstanding of the rain hammering down. The insipid light flickering above the porch sent off diminutive little shadows about his face, generating a more alluring and mysterious upshot.

Abruptly I came to my senses and realized that neither of us had said a word. The anomalous stillness was starting to grow uncomfortable. I shifted my weight and cleared my throat, hoping it would clear away some of the unease. Apparently it did.

"Hello."

The sound of his voice was dry. The sound of dry dead leaves crunching away in autumn. A scent of peppermint filled the air. The air became colder. My knees suddenly felt fragile and a chill went down my back. Goose bumps spread my arms. I grabbed the doorframe tightly to keep myself from collapsing.

"Can I help you?" I asked, my voice coming out in a tiny squeak. I wasn't sure that he heard me over the sound of the wind and rain.

"My name is Drew," he said, his face incapable of showing any feeling. "I. . . I live around here."

If he were a neighbor as he had stated, I would have been shocked. No neighbor had ever come and gave a welcoming to our new, odd family. I decided that people must have hated changes around here. In a sense, I don't blame them. They must have been used to living the same way everyday. Rain, grayness and more rain.

"Oh." I replied dumbly. I tried my best to smile and act pleased of having a sudden neighbor visit. I failed though. Terribly. The silence that befell over us once more was disturbing and I wished that I could think of something to say. Anything. I was desperate as not to look like a stupid freak who couldn't even say anything in front of this boy. "Can I help you?" I stuttered out again. Maybe repeating that same thing was worse than standing and staring without saying anything. I felt like such a dork.

"Do you know about this house?" he asked me in the same dry voice. The unchanged expressionless face stared bleakly into my eyes. Those trapped emerald orbs failed to show any feelings. Any warmth.

"This house?" I echoed, without thinking much. I stared into his eyes and searched for a hint of human ingenuity. I failed to find any. His words finally flashed through my brain as if hearing them for the first time. "Wait – what about this house?"

"The plebeians haven't told you yet?" Drew asked.

I shifted my attention from his face to his body and the clothes he was wearing. He was only a few inches taller than me and was wearing a pale worn out grey cardigan. The grey and weariness matched his features and the weather outside. I suddenly felt as if this place was sucking out all the color from everyone. Maybe if I lived here for about a year or so – I'd become one of them. One of the pale, grey habitants of Kavlin City. I shuddered at the thought and looked up into his eyes. They stared at me expectantly. My cheeks flushed.

"I'm sorry – what did you say?" I felt like a major dork right now. Why couldn't I just pay attention to what he actually says instead of gawking all over him as if he were a creature from Mars?

"Haven't the people in this town told you about this house?" he repeated slowly. The blood wouldn't stop pumping to my cheeks. I had a strange habit of blushing hard for no reason at all. And when I do – I always mostly looked like a tomato that was about to burst.

"No – not really," I answered and bit my lower lip. "People here aren't so friendly." The moment that slipped my mouth, I felt myself blushing again. He's _from_ here, stupid; I thought, feeling the urge to kick myself. You just totally insulted him and his family!

To my surprise, he didn't look at all angry. In fact, he seemed calm – as always. "Yes, I've noticed that," Drew agreed and shoved his hands inside the pockets of his black micro-fiber pants. "May I know what you're called?"

"Huh?" escaped my mouth. In all my excitement I haven't even told him my name! Wait – what _is_ my name? What am I called? Think, think!

"May!" my mother's voice sallied through from the kitchen. "Where are you?"

Yes! May! That was my name. Whew. Saved by Mom this time. "I'm at the door!" I yelled back and turned to Drew again. "My name's May. Hey – I'm really sorry, but I think my Mom's calling me for dinner. Do . . . Do you wanna come in?"

"No thanks," he answered. Probably the thought of having dinner with a wacky family such as mine freaked him out. Great going there, May. "I don't eat."

His last statement was muttered in such a low voice that I had trouble hearing what he really said. He doesn't eat? But everyone ate. I must've heard him wrong.

"MAY! Last call for dinner!" Mom shouted again and her voice echoed through the whole house. I bit my lip again as I saw Drew arched a brow.

"Okay then," I said hurriedly. I didn't want my mother to come follow me to the door. I knew her reaction when it came to boys. She'd be all awkward with that sugary voice that she uses for strangers. "See you around. Thanks for the visit."

"Yeah," he replied and turned around. I looked at his back for a little while. It was just as good-looking as the front. "Bye," he murmured and walked out in the horrible rain that was thundering down.

"Hey! Don't you need an umbrella?!" I called out after him and he shook his head, raising up an arm.

"I'm fine," he answered and shoving his hands back into the pockets, walked out into the cold darkness of nightfall. He seemed almost transparent against the rain. I shook my head and muttered something about my eyesight doing tricks on me. I turned and walked back inside the house, with him still on my mind.

--

I didn't see him again on both Saturday and Sunday. In fact, I spent those two days working on renovating my room and never went out of the house unless it was absolutely necessary. After all that work, my room still looked drabby and worn out and that horrible putrid stench of rotted wood still greeted my nostrils every time I would go inside. I tried my best to be cheerful about it. I even considered repainting the room so it would seem more me. Nothing, unfortunately, lasted very long. I just wasn't happy here. I wasn't adjusting very well to my new environment.

On Sunday morning, after I had my usual breakfast of toast and ham – I decided to do some exploring. The house was old so it practically must have some deep dark secrets waiting to be revealed. I felt excited at my new plan for the day and Justin even remarked that it was the first time he saw me smile ever since we moved to this place. I smiled a tightlipped smile back at him.

The attic to this house was located on the ceiling of the third floor. I found the hole in the ceiling the very first day we arrived at this house and I always wondered what was up there. I had absolutely no guts to search there at night but today, it was unusually bright. The rain was merely drizzling and the sun was peeking out between the clouds for the first time since we got here. I could tell that in Kavlin, getting this much of sun was like finding a pot of gold.

Anyway, I pulled on the string that was dangling down from the hole and with a huge clank, the stairs came clambering down. I thought maybe my mother or someone would come up from the huge noise that I just made but then I realized that they were all gone to this PTA meeting in Max's school. I was alone for now.

I checked on the squeaking stairs to see whether they were safe or not before taking a deep breath and climbing up. I steadied myself every now and then to assure that I wasn't going to fall and hurt myself before I crawled to the floor of the attic. It was pitch dark and I could just smell the dust everywhere. I stood up and felt the wooden planks squeak under my weight. I dusted off my hands and the knees of my jeans before blindly searching for a light.

My fingers finally grasped the hold of a cord hanging from the ceiling and I pulled it down, releasing a faint source of light to spread about evenly above the hub of the attic. I turned around to see what wonders await me and gasped in shock.

Everything was bare. Completely bare. There was absolutely nothing in the attic. Nothing. Not a single thing. A feeling of disappointment mixed with anger washed over me. I had anticipated the hidden objects so much. Feeling let-down, I walked solemnly around the bare attic. The air was hot and smelt mucky and sour. A fine coat of dust was layered on the ground and my steps puffed up the clouds of dust, causing me to cough.

My eyes watered but I wandered around the attic as if in trance. Around the centre of the garret, my dragging feet tripped over a piece of wooden plank that was randomly rising up amongst the others. Pain shot up my foot and I growled as I turned around to see what has caused me to trip over. The pain from my foot almost instantly disappeared when I saw that the plank of wood looked, sort of, different between the other gris covered wooden planks.

I could feel myself smiling again. Maybe my exploration wasn't _all_ over yet.

…………………

_R E V I E W! :)_

_--Suzie :o))_


	3. III

**[After Dusk]**

_UnreachableRomance_

[Chapter 3]

My eyes gleamed over as I slowly walked towards the lifted wooden plank. The dust particles flying around and the unpleasant stench of rotted wood left my conscious as I crouched down and blew the dust away from the board. Bad mistake. The filth clouded up the air and made my eyes conjure up tears. However, I managed to blink them away and setting myself down on the grimy floor, I grasped my fingers around the wooden plank and tried to pull it up. It didn't budge. I tried again, this time using more force towards my pull. It remained the same state. Huffing to myself and wiping away the beads of sweat on my forehead that came from the heat in the attic - I tried again and failed.

"_Uff._"

I let out a whine under my breath and pushed up my lower lip in frustration. Suddenly an idea came to me and a bright smile immediately returned to my lips as I stumbled up and rushed to the staircase, running all the way down, forgetting about how it was a squeaky old thing that could break so easily.

I ran in circles for a short while with all my excitement and then suddenly getting dizzy, I stopped and saw blue. My head finally started to click and I ran into the kitchen, praying that Dad's toolbox was unpacked. I searched the marble-lined tabletops and drawers and found nothing except for dishes and utensils.

"Where's that toolbox when you actually need it...?" I muttered to myself as I dug through the spoons and forks, creating a cluttered mess. I finally grabbed a rusty knife that you use to eat with and ran back upstairs, taking care as not to trip and stab myself (although it had a blunt point). Puffing from the excerise, I ran to the the little circle that was free from dirt (otherwise known as the spot I sat upon) and placing the tip of the knife inside the slightly lifted part of the wood, I hoisted it up with all the energy I had.

"Please, please, please," I whispered and finally with a loud 'clunk', the wood lifted up. I quickly pulled the dusty wooden chunk away and diverted my gaze into that little space between the cement floor. A small book with a worn leather cover greeted my eyes.

I felt my heart-beat sped faster as I reached for it and wiped away the dust. I was about to open the diary when I heard voices shouting my name. Startled, I clutched the leather book and darted my head up.

"MAY! MAY?!"

There it was again. I stumbled up and ran to the opening of the attic.

"I'm in the attic!" I yelled and saw my Mom looking up at me. She made a face at me.

"What are you doing in there? We haven't clean it yet," she informed and planted both hands on the hips of her pink Lily Pulitzer capri. "Come down, right now and wash yourself up. We're having dinner soon."

Dinner? Did all that adventure take so much time? I quickly slid the book inside the pocket of my baggy jeans and rushed down to where Mom was waiting with her impatient brow, Jason with his peace-maker mode and Max with a million things to tell us. Reading my new-found treasure would come after family matters.

After my Mom yelling about the mess I made in the kitchen and another dinner full of small talk and Max's non-stop blur of the Greenhouse Effect (that he watched on Discovery Channel at school), did I have time to go to my room and read the little book that was hidden under my pillow? No. Two girls my age came over and said that they lived right next door. I recognized them from my classes at school and tried hard to smile. They were known in school as the infamous 'Summers' twins. The duo with the scoop. They knew everything about everyone.

The older one had pretty eyes and a big smile. Her coppery red hair was cut in a pixie and she was lanky. Her name was April Summers. The younger one had a softer voice and looked more tame. Her hair was the same color - the color of a brand new copper penny but hers was long and fell to her shoulders in soft locks that she kept up with a barrette. She was known as Charlene Summers.

Once the general introductions between my 'parents' and the twins were over - they followed me to the sitting room and looked at me with two sets of excited hazel eyes. April glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone was there before beginning in a low whisper.

"We came to tell you some stuff that's going on with this house." Her big eyes got even wider, creating a more dramatic effect over me. I looked at her with my brow arched.

"Why does everyone keep on saying that?" I mumbled and looked back at her. "So what _is_ with this house exactly?"

April glanced at her sister. Charlene nodded and stared into my eyes. "So someone else told you something about this house?"

"Oh, yeah, this boy who said that he lived around here," I told them and looked at Charlene curiously. "Is this house, like, haunted or something?"

"Oh, not the house exactly," April cut in as a weird expression came upon her face. "It's just... this spirit from the house. People say that it lurks around and is still waiting for someone to help him. _We've_ never seen it though."

Something about April's words made my mind wonder to that boy I met the other day - Drew, or something. Nah. He couldn't be the spirit, of course. There was no such things! The Summers twins must be exaggerating.

"It's just rumours, right?" I asked and shrugged. "_I_ haven't seen anything strange here."

"Well, yeah, it's just rumours," Charlene answered as she drew a wisp of coppery hair away from her huge golden eyes. "But don't take any chances. There were people who have actually spotted him around here. Doesn't it sound creepy?"

I pushed up my lower lip and thought for a while. "Hmm... this spirit... Did he... live here?"

April nodded, her red bangs falling into her eyes. "I'm sure he did. He lived with his uncle. People said that his uncle was a drunkard and murdered him in this exact house." She paused and looked around the dim light, flickering above us. "Wow."

I felt a chill down my back as I thought about how I was just living in a house where someone was killed. Maybe he died right on this spot. Maybe he lived in my room. Maybe...

"Anyway, we better go," Charlene remarked as thunder rumbled. "The rain's going to start again soon. Mother gets mad if we're out for too long after dark."

I snapped out of my thought and smiled as the two twins got up. "Thanks for the info. And for the visit. Not a lot of neighbours come along."

April grinned. "Of course. No one would want to visit a house where someone was murdered, right?"

I looked at her strangely and that's when she shook her head, her red hair flying everywhere. "What am I saying? Kavlin people aren't just very welcoming by habit," she quickly covered up.

"Yeah," Charlene added as she pulled on her sister's arm. "Let's go, April. Bye, May. See you at school."

"Oh, yeah," I replied as I followed them to the front door. "Bye!"

The duo waved and putting the hoods of their raincoats on their heads - walked together down the road. I stared at them for a while before closing the door shut and walking slowly towards the sitting room. Another whiff of peppermint scent cascaded through the air together with a wild cold presence that made my knees go weak.

I was just telling myself that I was imagining things when two ice-cold hands wrapped around my neck and hissed, "_DIE! DIE_!"

I screamed so loudly that I thought the whole neighborhood would come running in alarm. But all I heard was, "_What _is your problem?"

I turned around and saw Max snickering, his beady little eyes flashing under the glasses and brimming with amusement. My eyes grew wide as I gaped at him. "MAX?!"

"Duh!" he exclaimed and laughed silently to himself. "Who did you think it was? The boogey-man?"

"I-I, uh, I knew it was you," I lied and looked at his hands. "Why are your fingers so cold?"

Max pointed to a can of Coke placed on the floor and shrugged. "Wrapping your hand against refrigerated Coke equals to cold hands, May."

"Oh." I suddenly felt dumb again. "Lame prank, Einstine."

"It fooled _you_," Max pointed out and stuck his tongue out.

"Yeah, sure," I pushed him out of the way. "I have some stuff to work on, so you can try that joke on someone who actually has time. _B-uh_ bye."

Without waiting for an answer from him, I ran up the squeaky stairs, the floorboards groaning under my shoes like they were in pain. I tried to push what April and Charlene told me out of my mind as I opened the damp door to my room and walked inside. A pierce wind hissed through my hair and I quickly rushed to the wide opened window and tried to close it. It was stuck. While I was struggling to get it closed, I thought I heard something that came along with the wind. It sounded like a voice. I stopped what I was doing and strained my ears to catch the whispery words.

_"I'm waiting, May..."_ the dry voice whispered. _"I'm waiting."_

I stood there, stunned for a minute. Was I going crazy? Why was I hearing strange stuff? _Who_ was waiting? _Why_?

"Who are you...?" I finally croaked out. "What do you want?"

There was silence now. Everything seemed to stop. The wind, the thunder, the rain - everything.

_BANG!_

I jumped back with a high squeal as the window slammed shut. I stared at it from where I was standing, wide-eyed. There was something very strange. Something was going on here and it was obvious. But the question was - _what? _There was silence now. Everything appeared quiet and undisturbed. I shivered and rubbed my arms as I walked over to my bed and sat down. Without hesitating, I pulled out the small leather book from under the pillow and opened the cover. The pages inside were a bit damp and the black ink was smudged but I could still make out the words.

I read the very first entry. It was dated 13th December, 1879. I tried to do some mental Math but I couldn't figure out all the numbers so I grabbed a calculator from my desk and punched in the numbers. I was left aghast at what I saw. A hundred and thirty. The diary was written a hundred and thirty years ago. I quickly read what was written in fancy cursive writing.

_December 13th, 1879_

_The bag lady, Beanie, from down the street gave this book today. I do hope Uncle Fran would not find out about this. He gets worse every single passing day. Sometimes I wish that I could drop down and die, just like that. Dying is easy - going through with inflicting pain each day is horror. I shan't find the words to describe the look of menace on his face, the look of utter evil. Like a devil's sick of sin. _

_Everyday, my life gets darker. I see the end approaching soon by the horribe wounds on my body and the blood, dripping out of me. Mary refuses to believe that. Mary is the daughter of the bag lady. She seems to me like the only light. They are my two friends in this life. They are two people that care. They put medicine on my bruises and they feed me with words of encouragement. They say I will be free soon. I wonder if that has a double meaning hidden in it. _

_At least Mary and Beanie are happy with their poor life. I am stuck in this great mansion, looking out of the dreary window and wondering what would happen to me next. So entrapped, so helpless._

_Oh, no! I hear his footsteps approaching. I do hope he would have mercy tonight. _

_Until next time._

_Andrew Hayden. _

I blinked. Twice. Was this what April and Charlene was telling me about? This boy who was killed in this house... Was he 'Andrew Hayden'? No, it couldn't be. If it was - why didn't other people who lived here find this book? Why was I finding out about his horrible life? Why me?

I closed the book. I didn't have the courage to read the other contents. I also didn't want to find out whether or not this person was the same person that was killed. It was just too creepy to read things that he wrote. As I was placing the book back under my pillow, a yellowed, black-and-white photograph fell out, its back to me. I looked at the words written on the back of the picture.

_Mary, 12th February (Horse Bazaar) _

I turned the photo over and looked at the picture. And I did a double-take. Although the picture was faded and worn - I felt chills down my back from what I saw. The girl was standing by a white horse, her hand placed over the head. She was wearing a raggedy-looking dress and had a wide, sun-hat placed over the side of her head. Her hair reached her shoulders and she was smiling wide. But I couldn't stop staring at her face or keep the chills from going down my spine.

Why?

...She looked exactly like me.

_Sorry the shortness and the time taken because I had to contact my Beta first and I had exams, so....._

_R E V I E W ! ;)_

_-Suzie x_


	4. IV

**[Chapter 4]**

[After Dusk]

_UnreachableRomance _

_..........................  
_

That night I had some ghastly dreams. Faces of April and Charlene spun; their expressions grim and staring at me accusingly. The aged photo of the girl that looked so much like me flashed in my face. And the last thing I remembered was the horrified look on a familiar green-eyed boy; a cry escaping from his pale lips--before I screamed and jolted up; drenched in sweat and my heart racing.

My scream echoed in my ears, and the rain pattered above me. I sat up on my bed for a moment to calm my nerves but I found myself shaking all over. I waited for my eyes to be adjusted to the dark before I softly walked out of the uncomfortable bed. Pulling on a grey jersey, I silently crept out of my room, the tips of my bare feet feeling ice-cold from the old wooden floor.

I made my way to the kitchen, tip-toeing--although I didn't really need to. Nobody would have heard me over the thunder either. When I reached the big room known as the kitchen, I reached for a glass and filled it with cool water which I greedily drank down. It cooled my burning insides, making me feel better. I glanced at the clock. It was twelve twenty. Late.

Just as I had finished washing the cup and was placing it back on the rack; I heard a tap at my window. Startled, I almost dropped the glass--but I breathed hard and told myself that it was just the sound of the tree branches shaking outside.

Calmly laying the cup on the shelf, I was about to turn around and run back to the safety of my bed, when I heard somebody whispering my name. My eyes went wide with terror. It was the same raspy voice that I had heard over the wind. I'd recognize that dry voice of dead leaves anywhere. I bit down hard on my lower lip so the tangy taste of blood filled my mouth. Choking down a scream, I ran over to the partly open window and peered outside. It was dark, just as what you would have expected. The rain fell in a slanted position; the wind was piercing cold and howling like in pain.

I took short breaths, and looked wildly for that presence that called my name. "Where are you?" I whispered, my own voice sounding chilling to me. I gathered up all the courage that was left in my guts and cried, "Where are you?!"

And in the corner of my eyes, I saw a figure. He or she was half concealed in the dark of the night, perched on the steps of the porch. _Our_ porch. He lifted his face up and I was able to see the lifeless green orbs. I almost toppled over the window in my attempt to see more of him. Yes, yes--that was the boy who had visited the other night! My breath hitched in my throat as I gasped and ran over to the big front door. I knew that I would get in big trouble if my parents found out that I was going outside, so late at night--but I wasn't thinking clearly. I swiftly unlocked the mahogany door and pulled it open. The wind blew into the house with a roar and I scrunched my face up as it smacked my face. Pulling the heavy material of my jersey closer to my body, I made my way towards the boy.

His back was facing me and I saw that he was wearing the same clothes from the last time I saw him. I took small steps near the boy, my whole body trembling. As I reached closer, I swallowed deeply and closed my eyes shut before croaking out, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh. Hi," I heard his answer. It took all my might to open my eyes and see his face. I had imagined his face to be . . . well, scary, I guess. But what I saw was far different. He looked the same. He was still handsome, his face was still chalky white and his eyes were still blunt.

I let out a sigh of relief and was about to take a couple more steps to reach his side when I slipped on the rain water, falling down the stairs. I let out a cry as I splashed into a puddle, and opened my eyes to see the boy, _Drew_ snickering. I suddenly grew very angry. Here I was, in the middle of night, all covered in mud and he was _laughing_ at me?

"I don't think it's very funny," I snapped as I stood up, the mud dripping off of my body. His face grew solemn, but his amused smirk was still plastered onto his face.

"Yeah, fine," Drew answered. "Are you okay?"

"Just soaking wet and wrapped in mud," I replied dryly. "I don't know if that's considered as _'okay_'."

He rolled his eyes and helped me dust the clumps of mud off of my sweater. Then we both sat down on the porch steps. My mind was whirling, literally. There were so many questions that I didn't know the answer to. Like who was the one calling out my name? Or simpler ones; like: _what the hell_ was I doing, sitting outside with a person I hardly knew, in the middle of the _night?! _

"What are you . . ." I breathed out and looked up into his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I think I have the right to be wherever I want to be," the chartreuse-haired boy replied, haughtily.

I smiled tightly, taken back. Guess I should have thought of that. "Maybe I should elaborate myself," I tried again. "What are you doing here--in front of _my _house--in the middle of night?"

Drew looked up, a bit of amusement crossing over his face. "What are _you _doing here, in the middle of the night--and not in bed like everybody else?"

I set my shoulders back in an exasperated manner. "Well I can't help but see you while I was getting some water. And now answer my question."

More amusement filled his expression as he inched his face closer to mine so that I could smell the peppermint scent coming from him. A smirk overtook his upshot as I stared at him, appalled and not knowing what to do. "Maybe I _want_ to be here. Maybe I wanted to see you again."

"W-what?" I choked out. I wasn't expecting his face to be so close. And I definitely wasn't expecting his face to appear even _more _mysteriously alluring and attracting in a mystifying way. But then the amused look on his face vanished as he pulled back and hung low. I stared at him, wide-eyed. There sure was a lot I didn't know about him.

"Actually," Drew started in a small voice. "Actually, I came here to ask for help."

"Help for what?" I asked, astounded. "I-I don't think that there's anything I can help you with."

He shook his head, looking the other way before staring into my eyes. His face appeared to be serious now and his eyes flickered with somber. "Don't get so humble," he said in a very low voice, his orbs not moving an inch away from mine. "There _is _something that you can do to help me."

"And what's that?" I asked in a big voice. "I-I mean--I have no idea what you're talking about! I'm not good at anything . . ."

"You don't have to be good at something for this case," Drew interrupted, as his soft-looking hair flew in the wind. "All you have to do . . ." his eyes turned away. "All you have to do is help me look for her."

His last words were so whispery. My ears had to be strained so that I could hear him. I wasn't sure what he was talking about either. Look for who? I didn't know anywhere here! I just got to this place a week ago. "What are you saying?" I finally asked. "I don't understand."

"I . . ." Drew trailed off and closed his eyes. "My best friend was killed because of me. And I need you to help me look for her."

And now I was starting to grow more puzzled. Help him look for someone that's already dead? Was he _crazy_? I wasn't a shrink or something. How in the world did he expect me to . . .?

"Are you, like, out of your mind?" I demanded, shaking my head. "If your best friend was killed then that means she's _dead._ Do you think that I . . . that I _associate_ with the dead or something? Drew, what is your problem, exactly?!"

His eyes flashed open, almost glowing in the dark. The wind howled in the distance and the rain thundered harder. "I wouldn't be here if you were just a normal girl," he whispered. "But I _know _you're not. I know that . . . you can help me find me her."

"You're crazy, aren't you?" I asked in a shrill voice. "What makes you so sure that I'm not a normal girl? I just moved here, Drew. And if this is some stupid prank or something--then you can just enjoy your laugh and go home. I'm going inside."

I then stood up, but before I could stride past him, he grabbed my wrist in one swift motion. "This isn't a joke, _May_. You look so much like her! I know that you can help me--I just know it!"

I froze. His touch was icy cold but I was trembling for something else. My eyes went wide as I tried to breath. But I couldn't. I felt like suffocating. "I look so much like who?" I whispered, my heart booming in my ears. I heard him sigh as he brushed some of his hair away.

"_Mary_."

My jaw dropped open. His fingers were still grasped around my wrist but I was really starting to shake. Swallowing hard, I told myself to run back into my house and forget all about this. But I couldn't. I still needed to hear one last answer to a question I desperately needed to know.

"A-Are you . . . Are you Andrew Hayden?" I whispered out, the name sounding foreign to my lips. "Tell me! Are you?"

He let my hand drop and looked away from my face, as if in guilt. "They call me Drew now."

Something inside of me snapped. This was too much; it was just _way _too much! I raised both of my hands to my face and covered my mouth. "Oh my God," I whispered. "Oh my God!"

That was when I ran. I ran back into the kitchen, and closed the front door with a bang. Still shaking, I looked at the clock to see how much time had past. It felt like a lifetime. His words repeated in my ears and my eyes were all jumbled up. The numbers on the clock swam in front of me and I shut my tired blue eyes before opening them again.

Then I screamed. The clock was stuck on twelve-twenty. It had stopped since I last checked. I ran to the sitting room, flicking the lights on and looked at the grandfather clock. Twelve-twenty. I ran to the dining room, praying that somehow this was all a weird coincidence. My Dad had a clock obsession and he always had several antique clocks in the glass shelves. When Dad died, Mom kept them in the dining room. I had seen her unloading the possessions into the cabinet the other day.

I saw the wooden cabinet in the corner, almost like it was peering out at me. Running over, I looked at every one of the clocks. I let a low cry escape my mouth and the last thing I saw before everything blacked out . . . was twelve-twenty.

--

"Oh dear, she must have been sleepwalking . . ."

"_And _having a very bad nightmare."

"Sweetie, did you know May sleepwalked? Maybe we should go take her to the doctors or something . . ."

"I think we should just wait, Justin. Maybe it's those one-time things that happen."

I opened my weary eyes to face a worried-looking Mom and Justin. Groaning softly, I found myself to be in my room now; safely perched under my wool blankets. "What happened?" I moaned. My head spun.

"Well, honey, you were screaming so loud you could've wakened the whole neighborhood," Mom remarked as she petted my head. "We found you in the dining room. Did you know what you were doing in there?"

I tried to remember how I had gotten there. But all that came to mind was a fuzzy blur. I knew there was something that I _had _to remember, something that was too frightening _not _to remember. "Boy, I have a massive headache," I groaned and Justin raised both of his dark brows and sighed.

"You must be tired. Have some rest. And then maybe we can take you to see that doctor nearby . . ."

"I'm fine," I croaked. "I just feel horrible right now."

"We'll see," was his answer and Mom smiled at me understandingly. They both left my room, closing the door with a click. I sighed as the darkness engulfed me once more. It wasn't even morning yet. My eyes wandered around my almost-bare room, and came to rest on the open window. Why was that window open again? I swear I had closed it.

I shrugged and pulled myself out of bed, walking over to the window. I was just about to pull the glass down when I saw a back turned to me. He glanced up into my eyes and with a knowing look on his face, turned around and walked into the dark.

Green eyes.

A jolt of memory flashed into me. Something that had happened . . . Something that I couldn't remember about last night had to do with him. I just knew it.

.................

_ A/N: Oh wow. How did you find this chapter? Took me the whole day to do. Anyway, I was GOING to dedicate this chapter to whoever made the 40th review. But as that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon . . ._

_This chapter is dedicated to Judy (Judy-Licious) because she's doing a little comic based off of this story! :D So thank you, Judy and I hoped you liked this chapter!_

_Please review! And thank you to ALL of the support that you gave to this story! :)_

_-Suzie x_


	5. V

**[ After Dusk ]**

[Chapter 5]

_UnreachableRomance_

_..............................................._

I lightly grasped the pale yellow pencil, shortened because of the sharpening it had undergone and drew a mark across the rolls of white notepaper. A line of dark amidst the sea of white. White; like what came into my mind when I thought about why I had been in the dining room, so late at night. White was just another name that meant 'nothing'. People often take the color as pure, natural--but I found myself disagreeing. Whenever anybody thought of a blank surface, they instantly imagined it to be white. White was shallow, it was weak, it could be easily stained.

Black was often misunderstood to be 'evil'. Most people didn't understand the deepness that it held inside. Maybe it was once as clear as white--but something had stained it, eloping and consuming it. When I thought of black, I thought of that boy, Drew. I seemed to believe that he was a misunderstood person--that he was something more.

But how could I know for sure?

In the background, I heard my teacher drone on about active-passive voice. The teacher was as unimportant as what he was saying. My conscious was on nothing that had been going on that day at school. Basically my routine was to come to school, get through the day, think, go home--and think again.

Subconsciously I began to sketch. I liked Art--I liked to draw. I outlined the eyes, round, curved at corners, full of emotion. I pursed my lips, beginning to grow more interested in my new activity.

"That's very pretty."

A hoarse voice interrupted my absorption in the drawing as I dropped the pencil and looked up. A girl appeared in front of my eyes--her dark eyes scrutinizing my every move. "Thanks," I whispered, feeling self-conscious. I picked the pencil, then put it down again. I still could feel her eyes on me.

"Who are you drawing?" she continued, apparently noticing my hesitance. I shyly looked up at her, and shrugged my shoulders with a meek smile.

"I don't really know," I admitted, dropping my gaze onto the worn-out marble floors. So many feet had once walked on this very floor . . . So many memories of different people.

A light smile formed on the face of the girl sitting beside me. She drew away a strand of her blond-brown ringlets from her dark blue eyes and rested her chin on her palm. "I'm Coral Frockling, by the way. I heard you were the new girl?"

"May," I said quickly, not liking the sound of 'new girl'. I wanted people to stop giving my strange looks and referring to me as 'oh, yeah, that new girl . . . what's her name again?' It was getting quite on my nerves.

"May, what?" Coral flashed a confused look as she played with the edges of her long hair.

I instantly felt embarrassed. "That's my name," I told her, more slowly this time. "May Maple."

"Ahh," Coral nodded and smiled. "Interesting name."

"Yours too," I told her and she crossed her legs with another smile. She was wearing such a short plaid skirt, with high red thigh socks--and if clothes portrayed personality, then this girl seemed to scream out 'unique'. I felt plain, just clad in a cotton t-shirt and blue jeans.

I lowered my head a little and turned back to my drawing. Before long, the class was over--and the hour that most everybody wanted was here: lunch time. Chairs dragged upon the sea green marble floors as the teacher frantically reminded his students the homework. I put my notebook and pencil away in my bag and swinging it over my shoulders, made my way out of class.

"Hey, May--wait up!" somebody called from behind me and I turned around. I usually spent my lunch hours alone--biting a sandwich and musing about the sun of Petalburg.

I was surprised to see Coral making her way up to me, her black high-tops dragging along the floors as she readjusted her big, colorful bag on her shoulder. When she reached me, she rolled her eyes and panted. "What's up with you? You practically ran out of the class."

"Really? I didn't notice," I lied and smiled, hoping that it appeared friendly enough. "So, um . . ."

"You are such a dork," she laughed and grabbed my wrist, leading me to the big cafeteria. "We're going to have lunch together."

I didn't actually reply back. I was mostly relieved that at least somebody wanted to have lunch with me. But Coral was . . . interesting, to say the least. I wouldn't have ever thought about calling somebody I just met, a dork--but she did it in such a casual way that I couldn't get mad. Suddenly she whipped around, her springs of hair flying.

"We're cool, right?" she demanded with narrowed eyes. Flipping some bangs that went into her cobalt shades, she looked at me curiously.

"Yeah," I finally said. "We're cool."

"Great," Coral became herself again as we lined up in the lunch line.

The cafeteria was small, compared to the one back at my old school--but right here, it looked huge. Maybe because there were little students in this area--or maybe because it was just dark and not well lit. The clouds grumbled outside, but the sun peeked through from the grayness with a streak of light. I grabbed a tray and followed the brunette teen as she picked up a bowl of Caesar salad and a bottle of soda. She watched as I chose my usual sandwich, fries and a can of Coke. I was eyeing the brownies when Coral leaned in and whispered into my ear.

"Don't take that," she advised. "They look delicious--but they actually taste like barf. The lunch lady can't bake for two cents."

I glanced up at the girl with a smile as she nodded her head. I decided to follow her advice, and moved on to pay my lunch. The said-lunch lady was staring at us, and her face wasn't very amused. After we had paid, we made our way to an empty table.

As I sat down and picked up my sandwich, something came into my mind and I thoughtfully said, "I live on Road two-oh-two, you know. That old seventeenth-century mansion that was abandoned for a time."

The brunette picked up her fork and stabbed a carrot, bringing it to her mouth and chewing before looking at me. "Oh, yeah. That's good."

"What do you mean, it's good?" I asked her, confused. I thought everybody knew about that so-called spirit.

Coral shrugged and threw her hair back over her shoulder. "I don't know. You live at that old place--okay then."

"But-but," I stammered, her replies throwing me off. "Almost everyone had been telling me that . . . it was haunted or something."

She arched her dark brows, a far-off look painting her features. Then she shook her head and laughed. "Don't tell me you believe that," was her answer. "There are no such things as ghosts."

"You think?" I asked uncertainly, carefully peeling the plastic away from my white-bread sandwich.

Coral shrugged, smacking her lips and popped open the can of soda. Then she looked at me, her smoky navy eyes unwavering. "No," she whispered. "I _know_."

I looked at her solemn face and grew a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach. A chill sneaked down my back. "But . . . I think I've talked to him before!"

She looked at me in surprise. Her face was so surreal . . . Almost even _magical._ Suddenly her expression changed as she threw her head back and laughed. "Seriously May," Coral began. "I don't know what your problem is--but you sure need some loosening up. And I just happen to be the girl to do it for you."

I winced slightly and ate a bite of my sandwich. Maybe I do have problems; I thought to myself. Maybe the move and everything just messed up my head and I was imagining things.

"Hey May," two voices chimed as two girls dropped down beside me, their red trays clinking against the white plastic tabletop. April wrinkled her nose at the green gooey mush on her plate.

"I don't know what this is--but it doesn't look good."

Charlene nodded as she drew back her long hair and smiled at me. "Looks like you got the good one."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I thought you could choose whatever you wanted."

"Yeah, if you get there early," April answered as she swirled her fork around the mush. "First come, first serve sucks."

Suddenly Coral cleared her throat and both of the sisters looked up as if noticing her for the first time. She had an irritated look on her pretty face as she put down the can of soda and stood up.

"Well, I'll be going," she told me, not once looking at the twins. "What class do you have next?"

I dug out my crumpled timetable from the pocket of my jeans and scrunched my eyes as I tried to read the small letters. "I . . . I have Home Ec."

Coral nodded, brushing off her dark red halter blouse. "Great. You and I have the same schedule. Well, I'll see you there--where hopefully we won't get any more distractions . . ." For the first time, she glanced over at the red-haired girls then diverted her gaze quickly. "Bye May."

"Bye!" I called out awkwardly, noticing the tension that was going on. Once Coral was out of site, the two sisters huddled over to me, their voices low once again.

"Why were you sitting with that girl?" they both questioned at once. Then they looked at each other--and then back at me again, demanding an answer. I honestly didn't know what to say.

"Coral was just . . . showing me the four-one-one," I finally said and sipped my soda. "Now I guess it's my turn to ask. What's going on between you guys?"

Charlene shrugged her petite shoulders. "I don't know. In fact--nobody really knows about Coral Frockling. She's a one-of-a-kind, you could say."

"Her real name's _Carol_," April informed me as her hazel eyes flashed. "But she thought that it was too common and told everybody to call her Coral. She's the only girl I know who could wear skirts anytime of the year."

"She doesn't seem all that bad," I admitted. "I liked her, really."

"We can tell you all about her," Charlene said as she unwrapped a bottle of water.

"If you want," April quickly added in and looked at me curiously. "So?"

I nodded, curiosity taking me over. "I want to know," I told them. "What's the whole thing behind Coral?"

"Well . . ." Charlene smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "It's a long story."

A story so long that it took the whole lunch hour to tell. Sometimes I wondered how those two know so much about people. I couldn't really call them nosey though--they were helping me by telling things that I needed to know. I walked into my Home Ec. classroom, setting myself down on an empty desk. The classroom was only partly filled--and most of the kids had their noses buried in books.

I clasped my hands tightly in front of me and sat, poised on the edge of my uncomfortable seat and waiting for Coral. Whatever people said about her--it was still a relief to know that there was going to be one friendly face in a classroom full of strange people.

More kids piled up into the dim classroom, but no Coral. The seats were starting to get filled and the big clock hung up on the wall ticked closer to one-forty--the time when class would begin. Finally the teacher (whose name I think was Mrs. Fairchild) trotted into the class, her stocky legs carrying her across the marble floor. She had a stack of books in her hand and stumbled a little on the way. It was relief to find that she didn't trip and fall flat on her face. It appeared that people here would rather make her the laughing stock of the school rather than help her up.

I was starting to get even anxious of waiting for the spunky brunette to arrive. I fidgeted in my seat as Mrs. Fairchild grabbed a short piece of chalk and began to scribble on the board. The clock ticked five minutes more . . . still no Coral. Maybe she decided to ditch class; I told myself. She did seem like a girl that skipped classes.

When there was hardly fifteen minutes left of lesson--the door finally burst open and Coral made her grand appearance. Her light brown hair was frizzy now--and she appeared slightly damp from the drizzle of rain.

"Ms. Frockling--I'm afraid you're very late!" Mrs. Fairchild was quick to pounce on Coral, but she appeared noncommittal to the entire situation. She even leaned a little bit on the edge of the door, looking eased.

"Too late to join the class?" she asked lazily as she looked down at her black Converses.

"This is unacceptable behavior, young lady!"

"You know what's unacceptable?" Coral demanded back. "You telling me what to do. It's not like you're my mother or anything."

The whole class quickly hushed down. It was so quiet that even the slightest squeak seemed to cause an echo. Mrs. Fairchild looked atrociously annoyed and she breathed in and out quickly. I tensed in my seat, hoping Coral wouldn't do anything bad. Just apologize! I found myself yelling in my head. Tell her that you're sorry and let it past! But it didn't look like the fiery brunette was going to do anything of that sort.

"I have a good mind to send you to the Principle," the teacher growled out, her set of dark eyes flashing with anger. Coral remained unmoved.

"That's okay," was her answer. "Principle Jae and I have a . . . understanding relationship, to say the least. That's reasonable as I see her almost _every single day of the week!_"

I saw Mrs. Fairchild ground her teeth and finally she let out a sigh, raising a hand to her forehead. "Get into the class," she finally seethed out. "You're wasting time for the rest of the class."

A smug look formed onto Coral's face as she slung her big bag over her shoulder and curtly shuffled into the classroom. She chose a seat next to me--but she refused to even look at me. I didn't know what her problem was. April and Charlene told me that if she hated someone--she had a way of getting back, but what did that mean anyway? I didn't do anything to make her hate me. In fact--I didn't even _know _her.

I decided to send her a note, asking her about why she was so late. It was good to start innocently. I scribbled some words onto a wad of paper and tossed it to her, then studied her expression. I was sure she saw the note--but she was pretending that she hadn't. Her eyes remained fixed on the black board, her chin resting upon her palm and her legs crossed.

After a moment, she finally reached out for the piece of paper, still without looking at me--ran her eyes over my words and picking up a pencil, began to write. She flung the wad back, which I quickly grabbed and unfolded quickly. Her reply, written in perfect full writing--was this:

_Was thinking, didn't realize the time. Did you have a good time hearing everything about me? Everybody enjoys ditching someone who actually tries to be nice._

I felt like I had been kicked in the gut. So that was why she was ignoring me. She thought I was gossiping about her! And about ditching her? I never ditched her--she left by herself! Feeling accused, I furrowed my brows and wrote:

_I don't know what made you feel that way, Coral--but I wasn't trying to ditch you! Charlene and April came and you left, all by yourself! And I never gossiped about you, I was just trying to understand you better. You know I wouldn't do anything like that! _

I quickly looked at the teacher. She had her head buried in the brown book, talking about something. She was completely oblivious to her surroundings. Noting this; I placed the note back to the brunette's desk, hoping that she'd read it and understand that she was completely wrong.

She ignored the note, and a second later, the bell rang for another class. As usual, chairs scraped and people hurriedly put their things away--but I was absorbed in whether or not Coral read the note. I watched as she pulled her books back into the colored tote bag, stood up and put her chair in. She was about to walk away, leaving the note--when she suddenly turned around like she forgot something.

Much to my relief, she grabbed the piece of notepaper and made her way out of the class. I felt reassured now as I slung my bag over my shoulder--but my eyes still watched the brunette. When she reached the door, she stopped and dropped something out of her hand into the waste paper basket. I watched in agony as Coral's face bittered before she stalked out of the classroom.

This was so not good.

----

I groaned as I unsuccessfully tried to do my homework. It was actually considered to be an 'easy' worksheet--but the Math problems made my head dizzy and the words began to swim across the page. Putting my pen down, I got up and stretched--thinking that I needed a little bit of fresh air. The early drama that was already starting at school wasn't helping my concentration either.

Grabbing a sweater from my closet, I skipped down the stairs to the sitting room where my Mom was sitting on the beat-up couch, watching reruns of Scrubs and sniffing into a Kleenex. I inwardly rolled my eyes. When I thought of TV shows that would make anyone cry--Scrubs was not on that list. But it's kind of expected for my mother to cry at anything.

"Mom, I'm going out for a walk," I called out from the edge of the stairs. She turned around from the television set, her eyes red and puffy.

"Oh, May! I don't think I can live with myself!" she cried and blew hard into the tissue.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked as I slipped on the sweater. Knowing my mother though--it ought to be stupid.

"She died! Laverne died!" my mother exclaimed and sobbed harder. "Poor Carla!"

I had no clue who these people were, and I had no intention to either. I smiled tightly at her and ran a finger through my hair. "_Anyway _I said I was going out for a walk," I tried to say again. "I just need some fresh air."

Mom looked at me with a wobbly frown and flicked her hand away. "Just come home before dark."

I nodded, relieved that she didn't force me to sit down and watch Scrubs next to her--while she sobbed herself away. "I will!"

I hurriedly grabbed my keys from the counter and slipped out of the house before Mom started to cry again. When I meant she was dramatic--I meant she really _was_ dramatic. I inserted both of my hands into the pouches of my white sweater and strolled through the deserted streets of Kavlin. It wasn't raining today, but it was dark and windy and I shivered in my light pullover.

I stopped to take a deep breath of the chilly wind, its coolness quickly refreshing me. With a flash of light a figure appeared in front of me and I gasped in shock, jumping back. I gasped again as I saw an emerald-eyed familiar face. Suddenly all my memory came back to me. I remembered what had happened that other night.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered out, trying to keep the fear away from my voice. He smiled sadly and drew his hair away from his face.

"Is that a way to greet somebody?" Drew asked curtly as he started to walk down the road. I hurried after him, trying to keep up with his fast strides.

"I-I don't understand," I tried to say. "What happened to me the other day? How come I forgot everything about you? Why did the time stop?"

I saw a smirk form on his face as he placed both his hands inside the pockets of his slacks. "So many questions," he remarked. "First off, I can do some magic tricks--you could say. I _made _you forget about me."

I looked at him in confusion. "But why?"

"You were too scared," Drew answered in a light tone. "And people that are scared make mistakes. I can't have you telling anybody about me."

"It's not like they would believe me anyway," I muttered, letting my bangs cover my face. I was starting to get less afraid of him. Sure, I was a bit frightened--and my legs were tensed so that they could run any second, but as of right now, he didn't seem like he would do anything to me.

"I can't take that chance," the chartreuse-haired boy went on. "A lot of people here already know about me, but you're the first one who I've told things to. I have to keep my identity a secret."

"Then are you just going to erase my memories after this?" I demanded. "That's completely unfair! You have no rights to toy with my mind."

Drew shrugged with a nonchalant expression on his face. "I don't know about rights--but technically I _can _mess with your mind. But rest assure; you'll be remembering me after this."

"Why?" I asked again. There was so many things that I didn't know. So many things that I _needed_ to know or else I could go crazy.

"Because you're not as scared anymore," he answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I know that you won't go and tell anybody."

I bit my lip and folded my arms across my chest as the wind blew my hair back. "So what about the clocks? Why did they stop?"

Drew smirked in amusement. "That's another trick of mine. It's my favorite one. I kind of froze time, I guess. For spirits like us; time just washes by. We're not real so a year could feel like merely a day. I've lost count of how long I've waited for somebody to help . . ."

I blinked as I tried to take in what he said. His voice was so sad now--completely somber and no hints of amusement were on his face. "It's been over a hundred years," I told him softly, feeling almost sorry. "But I still don't understand. Why did you freeze time?"

"That was for you," he told me, another simper already making its way across his face. "You didn't want your parents to notice that you were outside, talking to a stranger for a couple of hours, right?"

"A couple of hours?" I questioned, bewildered. "How did it take a couple of hours?"

"I told you," Drew answered, sounding irritated now. "Time goes quicker for spirits--_and being together with spirits too_." He added, noticing that I was about to fire him with another question.

"Anyway," he at last said, breaking the silence that hung over us. "I came to tell you that I sense her."

"Sense who?" I wanted to know.

"Mary," the green-eyed boy said simply. "I sense her somewhere close to you. And I just wanted to warn you to be careful. She might harm you."

"But--"I started to say but Drew cut me off.

"Just be careful," was all he said before he shimmered in the air, almost transparent.

I blinked once--and he was gone. He completely disappeared into the air. I looked around, dazzled but he was nowhere to be seen. And that's when I noticed the place that I was in. I hadn't noticed that we had walked this far. Now I was in a neighborhood that I didn't even realize. I sighed out loud as I turned around and begin to walk back, wishing that Drew had once again done his 'magic' trick--and stopped time so that I wasn't going to be late for dinner.

----

The next day, I stumbled out of my Mom's car and waved goodbye to Max and his pooch. Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself for another day of school. Readjusting my backpack on my shoulders, I walked into the school. The clouds grumbled over me once again and the bay trees shook everywhere. A sign of another storm. Just excellent.

I was really surprised to see almost the whole school looking at me when I arrived. Usually I was ignored, just a new face in school, nothing more. But right now, everyone was snickering, looking at me from head to toe and laughing at some private joke that I didn't know. I was confused as I walked down the hallways, but when I saw the faded lockers--my breath cut short.

On every other locker, was a sheet of paper. My jaw dropped as I looked at them. There was my picture, maybe caught in mid-action--but it was only my face. My lower half was a skeleton, looking like it was doing a strange dance. And on top of the picture were big bold letters. I gasped as I read it.

_May Maple? New girl says she "talks to ghosts"! Maybe she could because the ghost will think she's one of them! _

A seething anger boiled in my stomach as I tore the paper off of the locker. Who did this? Somebody must have taken a picture of me while I was engrossed in doing something else--and then . . . made this horrible poster! But why?!

I stalked down the hall, frantically looking for the culprit. Everybody around me either snickered or looked at me in pity. I gasped as I reached the end of the hall, where a figure stood with a pile of paper in her hands; passing them out to everyone she could see. I shook my head in disbelief as I looked at the girl with blond-brown hair, wearing white jeans and a halter top with tons of plastic jewelry.

"Coral?!"

………………………

A/N: Wow, I hope you enjoyed this mega long chapter! (: I just had a lot to say in this one. I hope you actually read everything ;) It'll come in handy when things are getting complicated. I worked my butt off for this--so PLEASE review! And thank you to everyone who has in the past chapter!

-_Suzie x _

PS: I updated waaay earlier than expected :P


	6. VI

A/N: I really shouldn't be writing . . . School's about to open in five more days and I've got some research to do for a project. Yeah, homework over the summer sucks. And the worst thing about it is that the teachers keep on repeating the same old fact that the grades in sophomore year count more towards the college transcript. : PRESSURE. Dx

But anyway, thanks for all the reviews, you guys. :D I've been getting about twenty per chapter, and it's great :] Keep em' coming?

**[ After Dusk ]**

[Chapter 6]

_UnreachableRomance _

……………………………………………

The said-girl suddenly halted in her tracks, at first looking alarmed at the sight of me. Then she slowly passed the stack of paper to somebody walking past her and smiled curtly into my face, her full lips taunting.

"How's it going, May?" she asked with the funny hoarse voice of hers as she whipped hair out of her eyes. Straightening herself, she began to walk towards me, almost appearing vicious. I shrank back a little but noticing that the whole school was watching; I tried to look tough. I couldn't let this girl mess me around.

"You tell me," I replied, glaring at her. I cleared my throat slightly and crossed my arms over my chest, looking hard into her navy eyes. "Coral, why are you doing this? I thought we were friends."

She licked her lips swiftly and then shrugged with a smirk on her lips. The first bell went off and the hall was suddenly plunged back to life. People began to walk away slowly, whispering to each other. I glanced at the hall clock quickly. I had English 1 next, but it was okay. The classroom was near by. I could make it before the second bell. I needed to settle this business with Coral, once and for all.

"I thought so too," was her answer. She looked into my eyes, not blinking once and her cold stare made me feel uncomfortable. "That was before you ditched me for the Summers."

I sighed in frustration, turning my back and walking towards my locker. I tried hard to avoid all those little posters pasted onto the sea green lockers. Every one of them seemed to remind me that I wasn't supposed to be stuck in this town. I didn't belong here, and I didn't understand anything going on here. And that includes the strange ghost that keeps on reminding me of this Mary. She was somewhere close to me? The only person whom I knew was close to me and dangerous, was Coral. And Coral wasn't a ghost at all. She was real. Real as anything.

"You know what?" I suddenly said as I jerked open my locker. "I don't care if you think that I ditched you. I know that I didn't--but somebody like you don't deserve an explanation. You can think what you want, but stop trying to humiliate me."

I turned around after getting out some books to see Coral with a distant smile on her face. She twirled a strand of her caramel hair before speaking. "I didn't humiliate you. I was showing you how things roll around here. Maybe you heard from the twins--but you don't mess with Coral Frockling."

With that last word, the brunette spun on her heels and walked down the hall. I blew my bangs up in exasperation, but I had to follow her. After all, we had all the same classes. Trust fate to always make my life miserable.

When I got into the bright classroom, I picked a seat in the furthest corner and sat down. I always liked this English class. It seemed more cheerful than all the others because it had yellow walls and bulletin boards were almost everywhere. Colorful slogans and posters decorated the walls and the marble floor was always scrubbed clean.

As the teacher made her way into the class, I found myself thinking about the things that Charlene and April told me, the day before, about Coral. I found out that Coral moved to Kavlin a year ago, together with her aunt. She used to live with her single mother, but her mother was starting to drink heavily, so she was asked to move in with her aunt. She was well-known since the day that she arrived at Cronk-Memorial High and immediately caught the boys' attention because of her looks.

Not long after; she became really good friends with Charlene. According to the Summers, she became a part of the druggies' clique too and developed a fast crush on a guy that liked Charlene. Although she didn't reveal it, it was apparent to everybody that she was stricken with jealousy.

And so the story goes.

One day, Coral accidently told Charlene about how she had hidden some heroin in her makeup and how she hoped that the inspectors (who were coming that day) wouldn't find them. Feeling torn between keeping a secret for a friend and guiding them towards what was right; Charlene decided to speak up to the principal and tell her the truth. Coral was immediately suspended and put into rehab and nobody was sure whether she could even go to college.

But her aunt helped her out of that sticky situation, compromising to the principal and school boards that she was going to restrain Coral from doing it again. After pleading and making more compromises, Coral was accepted in school again, but she was put under watch almost all the time. Apparently she felt that she was backstabbed and hated Charlene, and since April was her twin--she was hated too.

And who was her aunt that helped her? My English 1 teacher and social counselor, Ms. Sanders.

Speaking of her; she walked into the class, a bright smile on her sunny-side-up face. She had that kind of skin that turns red very easily and so it always looked like she was blushing. She and Coral looked nothing alike. Coral had a kind of mysterious, dark features which made her cobalt eyes stand out even more. Ms. Sanders was rosy, blonde and bubbly--sort of like your life-sized Barbie doll, except she had a plumper figure.

She began to talk, her small voice echoing against the damp yellow walls. I lowered my head into my arms and stared at Coral's back, hoping that my school life would brighten up soon. Maybe I could _make_ things lighter around here. Everybody seemed so tense.

_Hmm . . . _

--

"You're so evil, May!"

I giggled and put a finger to my mouth. "Not so loud, April. Coral's gonna come any second."

We were at the entrance of the cafeteria, where people were starting to fill the tables. Charlene was sick at home with the flu and it had been three days since those humiliating posters were stuck on the lockers. People still talked about it--but the snickering was almost over. I hadn't heard from Drew since the day he warned me about Mary, and so I decided that she must've gone away. At least, I hoped so.

Laughter and excited chatter rang in the lunch hall, amidst the sour and tangy smell of Brussels sprouts. Yeah, that was the _special _today. 'Vibrant, green, tender' _disgusting_ Brussels sprouts.

Today, I decided I was going to give Coral a lesson for that poster she made. I had gone through this with April. So that was why April and I were standing in front of the double doors, waiting for Coral to make her appearance.

I spotted her long legs, clad with knee-high socks coming down the stairs and whispered excitedly to the copper-haired girl standing beside me. "There she comes! Go wait at our usual table!"

April gave me an excited squeal as she raced off to the lunch line, hurriedly paying and taking the tray to our table in the corner. When she sat down, she flashed me a wink and I smiled back, excited.

I turned back to see Coral walking towards me and clasping my cold hands together, I inhaled deeply--and almost gagged at the aroma of Brussels sprouts. My nausea stopped when Coral walked over to me, a serious and distant expression on her face. She joined my side; and now I was the one who felt confused. According to the plan, _I _was the one who would call her over.

"Listen, May," she began, brushing a bit of hair off her face. Her blue eyes fixed onto mine, peppered with its usual coldness. "Since Julia won't stop bugging me until I say it . . . Sorry about what I did."

I scratched my head, puzzled. I didn't really expect an apology. I said the first thing that popped into my head. "Who's Julia?"

"She's Ms. Sanders to you," the brunette answered and held out a hand. "Are we all okay now?"

I nodded slowly and awkwardly shook her hand and almost squeaked in surprise. It was ice-cold. "Yeah," I murmured, still not being able to take it all in. "We're good." I wasn't one to hold a grudge against anyone. No matter how mad I was at her at first; I couldn't really hold resent towards her. It just wasn't me.

Coral smiled faintly, releasing my hand and started to enter the cafeteria. "Good. So what's for lunch?"

"Oh wait!" I exclaimed. Her apology was so sudden that I almost forgot why I was waiting for her. "There's something I have to show you."

She turned her light brown head and arched up her brows. "What is it?"

I smiled. She walked into my trap. "I have magic powers!"

Coral stared at me, her navy eyes boring into me. A gaze so cold that I almost shivered. Then she threw her head back and laughed. "Yeah, sure, May." She rolled her eyes. "I know that you're kind of psyched about the essay on witchcraft you're writing for History--but seriously?"

I felt my grin widen. "No, really. I've been doing some research, and I found some really cool spells. Just watch me. Let me cast a spell on . . ."

My eyes fell on a girl who had just finished paying for her lunch and was carrying her tray, looking for a place to sit. I grinned again as I pointed my finger towards the orange-haired girl. "Misty."

Coral frowned as she looked to where I was pointing. She still didn't look very convinced. "I don't know, May. Lunch is going to end in a few minutes and I'm hungry."

"Just watch!" I exclaimed and excitedly began to chant some words under my breath, just loud enough so Coral could catch them. "_Amanoo . . . keela . . ."_ I waved my hands, fixing my eyes on Misty as she stood, scanning the crowd of kids, looking for a table. "_Kornoo . . . apaka . . . namoo_."

Several kids let out cries as the lunch tray flew from Misty's hands. The orange tray flew up into the air and came crashing down on the floor. The plastic plates clattered loudly and food spilled around Misty's feet.

Misty's mouth dropped open as she stared at the spilled food in shock. Her cerulean eyes widened in horror as she raised her arms up in the air helplessly.

"_Hahakoo . . . Bellem . . ." _I whispered, breathing hard.

Across the room, Misty started to spin. Slowly at first, her arms still above her head. And then faster, spinning awkwardly, stumbling into the spilled food. I saw Coral's horrified expression and smiled to myself. I nodded to Misty, encouraging her. This was _perfect_.

The laughter in the cafeteria died down and everybody stared at her, spinning helplessly.

I saw terror in her wide eyes as her short orange hair came loose out of its ponytail and whirled in the air as she spun even faster. Her arms flailed, as if trying to keep her balance. "Help me!" Misty wailed in horror. "Somebody--help me!"

The cafeteria was now silent. Even the lunch lady looked terrified. All eyes were on the tall, spinning girl.

Misty spun faster, her hair whipping around her. She uttered scream after scream. _Just as we rehearsed. _

I kept my finger pointed at Misty and narrowed my eyes, pretending to concentrate my powers. Misty's a great screamer; I thought with a hidden smile. She really did sound terrified!

When I asked her to help me with this little joke, the day before, she didn't want to do it. She didn't think she would be good at it. But she's terrific!

I gazed around the cafeteria. Kids were silent, gaping in wide-eyed horror. Even April looked slightly scared! And she _knew _about what I was going to do. Beside me, Coral had her mouth wide open, staring from Misty to me and then back again.

She's buying it, I thought gleefully. She actually believes that I'm doing this! We could all have a good laugh and relax when I tell her the truth.

I turned back towards Misty. The poor girl must be so dizzy. It was time to signal her to stop. I waved both of my hands at her and shouted some strange-sounding words. Did Misty see the signal? I gave it again. Why didn't she stop?

To my surprise, Misty spun even faster--_and lifted off of the floor_.

The room rang out with screams as Misty floated up off the floor, her arms flailing and still spinning widely. She spun in midair, three feet above the cafeteria floor. Then she floated higher. I watched in shock as her face twisted in terror--_real _terror. The lunch-lady dropped her spatula and screamed a piercing wail. I heard the booming footsteps of somebody rushing in the hall, coming to see what all the commotion was about.

But I couldn't move. I stared at Misty, horrified by what I was seeing. Why was she in the air? _How_? It was supposed to be a joke! We had rehearsed this together!

"Help me! Oh, help!" she shrieked. "May--stop it! May--please stop it!"

_But I wasn't the one who was doing it! _

………………………………

A/N: Well, how was it? :]

I know it was pretty short, compared to the previous one--but give me a break. I can't always write four-thousand-words chapters. :P

Review, all right? This might be my last update before school starts again D=

_-suzie x_


	7. VII

**[ After Dusk ]**

[Chapter 7]

_UnreachableRomance_

…………………………………………………

A/N: Here's the seventh chapter of After Dusk! This one is dedicated to Kirsty (-Kaidee-1), as I promised, for making the 100th review. (: I hope you will enjoy this long-awaited chapter! ;D

* * *

Two teachers ran into the center of the cafeteria room. Jumping. Reaching up. Desperately, they tried to grab Misty and pull her down from this strange force. But the spinning girl rose higher, just out of their reach.

My heart pounding against my rib-cage, I pressed my hands against my cheeks and watched helplessly as Misty shot up to the ceiling. Her head hit a wooden rafter with a deafening _thud._ Coral gasped from beside me. In the corner of my eyes I saw April's expression of utter horror. Time seemed to stop.

Misty voiced a low groan. "_Ohhh._ Please . . . somebody . . . make her stop!"

I gasped as I realized all eyes were on me now. Everybody. Even the lunch-lady, the teachers, the janitor . . . Coral had backed away from me. April was hugging herself, with her eyes wide, glaring at me in disbelief.

"I--I'm not doing it!" I choked out.

Screams rang out again as the lunch plates and glasses rose up from the tables. Brussels sprouts and bread, glasses of water, soda cans--all flew up from the tables, across the room. The lights flashed on and off. Kids ducked under tables as plates and glasses flew at them.

Misty screamed as her head thudded against the rafter again. I watched her slam in to the wall, and then slide to the floor. She sprawled there in a heap--and didn't move. The plates and glasses, the food and soda--it all clattered to the floor. Nothing moved now. An eerie silence fell over the cafeteria.

Slowly people climbed out from under the tables. The two teachers hurried over to Misty and knelt beside her. She still hadn't moved. I felt all eyes on me. I turned away from the accusing stares of Coral and April.

And saw Principal Jae, staring at me from the doorway. She was rubbing her chin thoughtfully, staring at me, staring so hard . . .

"I didn't do it," I whispered, almost to myself. My mouth was as dry as cotton. "You've got to believe me. It was all a joke."

April continued to eye me coldly. Coral hung back against the wall, looking frightened, as if she expected me to make her spin next. The whole room kept on looking at me. Staring at me with accusing eyes. I shook my head, feeling claustrophobic all of a sudden. Misty groaned a little from the ground.

"I couldn't have done that!" I shouted, almost feeling like I wanted to cry. "I don't _have _any powers!"

I ran across the room to where Misty was starting to stir. "Tell them!" I cried, bending beside her. "Misty--tell them it was all a joke. We cooked it up yesterday. _Tell _them!"

Misty gazed up at me blankly. "Go away," she whispered. "Please, May--don't hurt me anymore."

--

I could feel the hard stare of the principal, even though I was looking down at my lap. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I just started school, and I already got myself a spot in the principal's office. Two teachers sat in chairs on my left, and on my right were April and Coral, both looking very uneasy.

"May, I understand how you're feeling right now," was what Principal Jae first said. With her black-rimmed glasses sliding down her nose, she looked at me seriously. Her short gray hair fell across her forehead, and she was sweating slightly.

She does? She understands how confused and how terrified I'm feeling? I didn't think so. But I nodded anyway.

She continued talking.

"And I'm not exactly sure what happened, myself." Principal Jae glanced towards Coral and April, whose heads were hung low. "But from what I know; what happened to Misty Waterflower . . . you were behind this?"

"No, no!" I cried, before swallowing. "Well . . . _yes_." I saw the look everybody in the room gave me, and quickly held out my hands. "But it's not what you think! Misty and I had rehearsed it together yesterday. It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

Ms. Julia Sanders spoke. Her face was peachy-colored now, and she appeared to be slightly hesitant as she talked. "There isn't any logical explanation for this, Mrs. Jae. All the staff and the students are scared to death after what happened. I think a retrace of reasons is completely unnecessary. First we have to calm everyone down."

But Principal Jae held up a hand. "Please Julia. Let me do the deciding." She then turned her grey-green eyes towards me. "Now May. Do you have _any _idea what just went on in that cafeteria? Carol has told me that you were saying a spell, perhaps?"

I glanced at Coral, who had her eyes fixed onto the floor. Her palm was pressed to her cheeks, and I couldn't see the expression on her face. I turned back to the waiting eyes of the principal. "It was all a part of the joke. I swear! I don't have any powers at _all_. I'm just a normal girl."

The principal pressed her lips together with a sigh. Then she turned to April. "Is it true, April Summers, that May has planned this together with you?"

April froze at the sound of her name. She shook her head nervously and bit her lip. "I don't know _anything_."

"Mrs. Jae, I believe Ms. Sanders is correct," another teacher spoke, his beady black eyes nervously travelling back and forth behind thick glasses. "It really doesn't matter what happened _before_ the actual happening took place. Sometimes things that are without explanation occur . . ."

Principal Jae stared at me, her cold grey eyes not moving an inch away. Something about that look . . . She was trying to see if I actually had done it. She was thinking I was definitely not normal. She thinks I have the powers. She . . . She was frightened of me.

--

"I think you need some rest, darling," Mom was saying as she followed me into my room. I noticed how strangely she was eyeing me. As if she, herself, was not sure just _what _I was. Principal Jae had called my Mom after the interrogation, because I had seemed "a little bit shaky" and they had a little private talk once she came. God knows what went on inside there.

"I'm fine," I tried to say. "Just a little tired."

My mother nodded her head, her ponytail brushing against her neck as she helped me into bed. "That's why you should sleep." She then hesitated before speaking again. "I'm a little worried about you, May. First you fainted in the middle of the night, and now this strange _happening_. I don't know what to make of it!"

I don't know any more than you do, Mom; I wanted to say, but I didn't have the strength to talk very much. "Is Misty okay?"

Mom brushed away some hair from her face and pressed her lips tightly together. "Your principal said she's just in shock. Her parents are very concerned about this, May."

I closed my eyes and sighed as my head hit the cool surface of my pillow. "You do believe me, don't you Mom? You do know that it wasn't me?"

It took my mother a while before she said anything. She finally let a sigh escape through her nostrils and leaned down to kiss my forehead. "I want to believe you."

And with that, she stood up and walked out of my room, closing the door behind her with a click. I opened my eyes. She _wanted _to believe me? She was supposed to believe me, a hundred percent. She was my _mother_. If my Mom, out of all people, didn't believe me--I was doomed.

I sat up in bed, suddenly not feeling tired anymore. Without a hesitance, I reached underneath my pillow and pulled a worn out book. Drew's diary. I don't know why; but for some reason, I felt that the answer to all my problems was in this book. I opened the book carefully and that yellowed picture dropped out, with its back to me. I didn't bother to turn it around. I knew it was the picture of Mary.

I turned over to the second page of the diary. The papers were yellowed and stained, and the ink was smudged a lot. I let my eyes fall on the cursive words and read the entry silently to myself.

_December 20__th__, 1879_

_It's getting worse. Everything is. I cannot believe it . . . I cannot believe it! Mary . . . _

It ended there. I swallowed hard. It seemed like he was pulled away from writing another word. This was such a big mystery. _Who _was Mary? More or less, _what _was she? And why hasn't Drew told me all he knew yet?

I hurriedly turned the page, to see another diary entry along with a photograph. I pulled it from the pages and some of the ink stuck to the worn out paper. I looked at it carefully. My pulling had made some of the background fade, but I could still see the people clearly. A boy was standing in front of a house . . .

I looked closer. The boy was Drew. He looked the same, except for slightly younger. His hair was pushed back and he was dressed in a white shirt with slacks. The house behind him . . . was _this _house. It looked newer, grander and all the decorations in the lawn could tell me that the Haydens were rich.

I was just about to place the picture back inside the diary, when I saw it. Something near the window of the house . . .

I gasped and dropped the photo. I thought I saw her. _Mary_. I saw her in that window. I saw her face. I saw the look in her eyes. So evil . . . so menacing . . . I saw her.

With my hands trembling I reached out to the picture again. I looked at that window. I stared hard. I stared until my eyes watered.

She was gone.

"Did you like what you saw?"

A gasp escaped my throat as I whipped around. Drew was standing there, leaning against the open window, his hands inside his pocket. His gaze that was first kept low to the ground now stared deep into my eyes.

"Did you like what happened today at your school? Did you like what you just saw?" he whispered out. A cold look smoldered onto his face. "This is why you have to help me find her. She's powerful. And she's waiting for you."

"What do you mean?" I exclaimed. "I don't even _know_ her! And I don't know what you mean when you keep telling me help you!"

He shook his head and then walked towards me. His cold green eyes settled on the open diary. "Mary . . . Mary is strong. She can do a lot of things to you, May."

It was my turn to shake my head. I laughed, feeling myself go insane. "The question is; why me? I don't _care _about what went on a hundred years ago. It doesn't concern me, Andrew Hayden! All I want to do is _live my life_!"

He dropped his gaze away from the book, and stared straight into my eyes. His emotionless orbs seemed so cavernous . . . never ending . . . "You can't!" he barked. "There is a reason why she's doing this; and I'm trying to help before anything . . . anything permanent happens!"

"_What _is Mary?" I screamed, not caring whether my whole family heard me. I lost complete control of everything. "What are _you?! _Am I just going totally crazy and imagining all of this?"

"You should hope so," was all Drew answered. His tone was cold, and his eyes hid behind his fringe of chartreuse hair. "I want to tell you everything. I want to tell you the dark things that have taken place, right here in this house. I _want _to tell you if you're not going to lose your mind just yet!"

I swallowed. Wiping the tears that fell down my cheeks, I looked up at him. He was my only hope after all. He was the only one who believes that I can't actually cast spells on people. He was the only one who actually _knew _what was happening.

"Tell me," I finally said in a shaky voice. "I want to know everything. I want to know the truth."

Drew stared into my eyes. He seemed to be testing whether or not I was able enough to handle it. He thinks I've gone completely insane. I shook my head at him before whispering: _"I deserve to know." _

"All right," he answered. "All right." Drew took a deep breath, and then sat down on a chair. "Mary . . . Mary is a witch."

"_What?"_

Drew held up a hand, and continued talking. "It was said that from the day that she was born, bad luck came with her . . ."

Slowly, my vision started to blur. My room seemed far, far away. I didn't see Drew anymore. Instead, I heard shouts. Shouts that sounded far away, but gotten closer and closer.

"Witch! Witch!"

"Kill the witch!"

I screamed as I ran, trying to drown the boys' ugly shouts. My heavy black shoes pounded on the dirt path as it curved past the mill. I had to hold my long black skirt high in order to run from the boys who chased me. The coarse fabric felt heavy in my hands. Thorny vines tore at my ankles, ripping my woolen stockings. _But wait? My long black skirt? _

It was then, I noticed that I was not in my room anymore. I was surrounded by dusty roads and skinny horses. Shouts of "Witch! Be gone, witch!" greeted my ears. Suddenly I was not May Maple any longer.

I was transported into the life of Mary.

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-_Suzie x_


	8. VIII

A/N: Sorry for taking years to get this update. :[ And I'm also sorry for that crappy 7th chapter. I knew that a lot of things were off with that one--but I was in a rush to get it on and everything. :(

I hope this one makes it up for the crappiness. I've been working on this for quite some time now. It's been about 3 months since I've started this. So yeah. :3 It would definitely be better. Hopefully.

Ah. My back is killing me. I really need a massage. -.-;

ANYWAY. Thank you so, so, so much for the reviews! I absolutely adore reading each one of them, even if I hadn't the time to reply to them all. **:(** Please keep on reviewing. Seeing the new "review alerts" in my inbox makes me giddy. :)

**This is written in Mary's POV. Don't worry. May will link back to the story soon.**

**I posted this chapter at first--but the FF system of sending emails to "alert" the users of the chapter was down--and so I took it down. Now it's up again. :3**

_E N J O Y!_

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**[ Chapter 8 ]**

[After Dusk]

_UnreachableRomance_

"Stop her before she flies away!"

The shouts and yells thundered in my ears as I ran, blindly almost. A rock whirled past my head and I ducked just in time. _If only I could fly away._

The rock hit a tree with a sharp _clop_ and bounced across the path. I kept running, my legs close to buckling and my lungs burning from the cold air. The dirt path ended at the Fieldings' farm. I stumbled across the fields, through the high clumps of grass and heather. The boys were not far behind.

Around me, the barley crop lay unharvested, black and rotting. The only sound I could hear was the chickens squawking and the heavy beating of my heart. A few bony cows stared wearily as I ran by. Yet, everything remained to be in a dream-like, hazy atmosphere. The colors blended into each other and it almost seemed like an imaginary land of dreams. Or nightmares, to be precise. The late afternoon sun blinded me and perspiration rolled onto my forehead. The heat practically choked me. A sour, tangy aroma filled my nostrils and I coughed.

Did the people of Kavlin blame _me_ for the crop failures that spring? Did they blame me for the fat black insects that came swarming from inside the sweet corn husks? For the purple worms that left the apples dead and shriveled on the trees? For the starving cows who gave only a thin stream of sour milk?

_Yes._ They did.

"You _all_ are wrong! I am not a witch!" I cried, but I knew that it would be no use. I had tried to tell them this for years on end. But they wouldn't believe me. They were horrible and nasty and believed only in what they wanted.

The boys chased after me without halting. Completely ignoring my cries and protests. Another rock sallied past my head, only missing by a mere centimeter.

"Fly away, witch!"

"Sprout blackbird wings and fly away!"

I wish I _could _fly away, I thought to myself bitterly. Away from these ignorant villagers who blamed me for all their troubles. I longed to get away from the cold village, away from the staring eyes, from the long and wet winters without enough firewood to warm the small cottage in which I lived with my mother. Away from the farms and their scraggly crops. Away from the broken-down mill that seldom had any wheat to grind.

Away from it_ all._

I wished I could leave behind the red-faced boys with their cruel taunts. The farmers and villagers with their accusing stares. The pale women in their dingy white bonnets, whispering when I walked by.

Gasping for breath, I glanced back. Under the clear and pinking sky, not a cloud moved. It was as if the background was just a painting. The air was completely still and anomalous. There was not a rustle to be heard, except for the heavy beating of my heart along with the footsteps of the boys who still followed me, shaking their fists.

"Catch the witch!"

"Do not let her escape!"

I turned at the Fieldings' farmhouse. The world revolved around me and I felt dizzy and nostalgic, but I ran without stopping. I was not going to let these boys catch me. The dry, brown grass sloped up toward the village with its thatched cottages and stone-and-shingle barns. _My_ cottage—and safety—stood on the other side of town. Was I ever going to make it?

Chickens clucked and wobbled at the Fieldings' door. A skinny rooster watched from the wall of the stone well. The well bucket lay on its side on the ground in a mound of yellow chicken feed. A typical afternoon.

A sharp jolt of pain down my side interrupted my observing. A rock bounced hard off my shoulder and landed at my feet with a dull thud.

"Let me be!" With a burst of fury and all the confidence I could gather at that moment, I spun around to face my pursuers. The boys easily caught up to me, breathing hard. They surrounded me.

Rubbing my shoulder, I stumbled, trying to escape. But my shoe had caught in the mud, and I slipped in the grass, falling to my knees. The circle of boys closed in on me. Five of them, I saw, in their gray school costumes. Gray coats over white muslin shirts and brown vests. Knee-length knickerbockers with white stockings and black buckled shoes. Not the finest clothes in the world, but far finer than any _I_ had ever owned.

Long tangles of greasy hair fell to the boys' shoulders. They drew short but heavy breaths with their faces red and their eyes narrowed, suspicious and alert. I felt like a fox surrounded by hounds--and doomed to be torn to pieces by them.

I could still hear the chickens clucking and clattering near the cottage, in the Fieldings' yard. The only other sound was the whisper of spring wind that broke through the silence of the stand of silver elm trees which bordered the farm.

_Fly away now_, I ordered myself. _Fly away, blackbird. And teach the nasty boys a lesson.  
_

But I knew I hadn't the power. And that was the most depressing thought of all. I was being chased, hated and accused . . . for nothing at all.

Still on my knees, I pulled myself into a tight ball as the boys moved closer to me. I clenched every muscle and gritted my teeth, steeling myself for the blows. Two of the boys gripped slate-colored rocks. The others raised tight fists. Silent now. The world was silent. Nothing moved. It was almost as if everyone was waiting. And watching. Trying to see what would become of me.

I held up a hand, shielding my face from the burning sun. The boys formed dark silhouettes in front of the flaming orange horizon. The tails of their muslins rustled slightly under the wind. I noticed every detail of their faces. Each one was different, but yet—each face held the exact same cold and menacing look in their eyes.

"What are you going to do to me?" I whispered, my voice breaking. "Tell me--_what are you going to do_?"

They stared down at me, eyes hard as stone. And just as cold as one. Their bodies were tensed, ready for a fight yet they didn't say a word. Why hadn't the boys hit me yet? Were they scared of me? Or were they just waiting?

My heart pounding, I climbed slowly to my feet. I brushed the mud off of my hands and knees. Tossing my long, tangled mane of dark hair over my shoulder, I looked at them. Staring each of them dead in the eye.

Can I stare them down? Can I? Can I pretend to give them the evil eye?

"Leave the village, witch!" The boy named Johnny Goodman finally found his voice. Lanky and thin, with a long, pointed beak of a nose. He was always the leader of the bunch. Oldest and most outspoken.

"Leave the village," Johnny's younger brother, William echoed. He was red, with pudgy arms and legs. Sparkling beads of sweat lined his forehead. But that was all he was. Johnny's follower and trusty dummy without any brains of his own.

"I . . . live . . . here," I replied slowly, trying to catch my breath but still keeping my eyes on them. I was tensed and waiting for their sudden attack.

"But you are a witch," Aaron Harrison sneered. His long wavy blond hair glowed in the late afternoon sunlight as if on fire. He was the pride and joy of Chief Harrison, the second most respected man of Kavlin. "You have brought a plague to this village. The crops were ruined because of your evil. My father said so."

"Your father is wrong," I muttered, spitting out the words. "I am _just_ a normal girl."

Aaron laughed. His bitter laughter surrounded me, and rang off into the thick spring air. His intense blue eyes were filled with hatred. "Is that so? You do not look like one."

"Why do you try to go to school?" Johnny demanded. His eyes bore into my own with a peculiar flicker. "What strange kind of girl are you--who sneak into the schoolhouse to hear our lessons?"

I swallowed back my fear. "I—I wanted to learn," I whispered. "I want to be able to read."

They all laughed now. Harsh laughter.

"Why should a _girl _read?" Aaron asked with a bemused sneer. "To read your evil spell books?" He grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me hard. I stumbled backwards, into Will Goodman. He cried out as if touched by flames.

At the well, the scraggly rooster crowed. The hens started to squawk. Everything was stirring back to life. Catching my balance, I spun around to face them. "I will turn you all into chickens!" I shouted. "All of you! You will bend to me and peck the ground at my feet!"

"You _are_ a witch!" Aaron gasped. The grin dropped off his face immediately. "She admitted it!"

All the boys stumbled away from me. The rock fell from Johnny's hands with a clatter.

In that moment of bewilderment, I pulled the hem of my skirt up to my ankles and started to run. I expected them to follow me and to drag me down. To use their rocks and fists as they had planned.

But to my surprise, they stood frozen like scarecrows. They watched me run and didn't take up the chase. They were confused and scared. I kept glancing back as I made my way past the cottages at the edge of the village. Soon the boys were out of sight.

They _believed _me, I realized. They believed I have the power to change them into clucking chickens. Hot tears rolled down my face as I ran through the village square where everything was bustling. Horse-carts and wagons clambered past me, leaving behind a smoky cloud of dust. In front of the meeting hall, my eyes caught site of a blur of men in black. Alderman Hayden, the chief of the municipal council, was talking to two of the village elders. I saw Chief Harrison in the crowd, alongside Alderman Hayden.

Andrew was standing behind his uncle, dressed in a dark cloak. He turned to look at me as I walked by wearily, tired from my previous narrow escape. His green eyes were bright, even from this distance and they showed concern. Mother and Andrew. The two that would always be there. The two that actually believed I wasn't a witch.

My steps slowed down. With heavy breaths, I walked past the men. They stared at me, their eyes following my every move. As if they expected me to make a broomstick appear out of nowhere and fly away with it.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Andrew walking towards me. I stopped my steps when I reached the security of the huge elm tree. I could see my cottage was only a few paces away. I waited for Andrew to catch up, anxious at what he was going to say. Times had changed since we were children. But I knew deep down past the --we were in the same boat. His uncle . . .

Leaves crunched under his feet, as he neared me. His face was emotionless and his lips were drawn into a single firm line. His tufts of bright jade hair bounced slightly along with the wind.

I rubbed my hands over my face quickly, trying to wipe away my tears. I knew I had probably left grubby marks on my face from the mud that stained my hands when I fell. Andrew didn't say anything. He merely flicked his hair away from his face and stared. I noticed that there were some fresh new bruises on his face. Some purple near his lips . . . red swells near the corner of his eyes . . .

"Have they been chasing you again?" he spoke with his voice kept low.

"No!" I exclaimed cursing silently at the unsteadiness of my voice. I didn't want him to know. He shouldn't be troubled with _my_ problems. He already had far too much on his plate. "I-I was just running late and Mother's expecting me."

He looked at me for a moment longer. His expression seemed doubtful. He knew that I was lying. Of course he knew! "Mary." His voice was stern. "Listen to me. I—I know what everybody's planning. I heard Uncle Fran talking about it . . . I—"

"Andrew! You come back here this second!"

We both turned around in unison. His uncle was glaring at the two of us, his plump hands planted on the side of his hips. The mustache that covered his face twitched involuntarily.

Andrew hastily turned back to me. "Mary . . . I need you to tell you something. C-Come meet tonight in front of the mansion."

I opened my mouth and shook my head. Twigs fell out of my hair. "But what about Alderman Hayden—?"

Andrew didn't answer. Instead, he turned around and walked slowly back to where the three men were now glaring. He reached his uncle's side, and didn't give a second look back. The alderman appeared angry. His beady black eyes were bulging as he hissed some words into Andrew's ears. Probably telling him not to talk with the witch.

I turned away and lifting up my heavy skirt, slowly made my way back towards my cottage. Through the small market, I walked, past the carts with their meager wares. A few jars of honey, a bucket or two of thin milk, a slab of rancid and dried beef; that was all what was available. I walked across a wide, flat field and towards the small, square cottage where I lived with my mother.

Wiping the drying tears from my cheeks with my hands, I burst into the cottage. Katherine—(more known as 'Beanie') my mother, turned from the hearth, where she was boiling a pot of large brown eggs.

"Why are you crying?" Beanie asked at once. Her tired-looking dark eyes looked monotonously into my own. She always wore a look of tiredness on her face. Dark ridges lined her eyes and she appeared like she never had enough sleep. But when questioned—she always joked that she had descended from raccoons. "What's wrong, Moon Child?"

"Do not call me that, Mother!" I wailed, joining her side by the hearth. The afternoon was slowly turning dark. That was how the days were lately. The sun was late to rise and early to leave.

My mother brushed back my brown hair. The blue birthmark on my right temple came into view. The small, perfect crescent. The blue sliver of a moon. She spoke again. "I have always called you Moon Child," she murmured; running her bony fingers across the mark. "You were born under a crescent moon, Mary. Just like the one you have on your forehead."

"And I have been cursed by it!" I declared angrily. I pushed her hand away and let my dark hair cover the mark. "The villagers balme me for all their troubles. And all because of this mark on my face." I closed my eyes, dropping my head. "The boys from the school—they chased me again."

My mother nodded. Her charcoal black eyes bore through mine. "I heard them shouting. I'm so sorry, my girl."

I made no attempt to stop the tears from streaking down my cheeks. "I—I am not a witch! I'm only seventeen years old. Why do they taunt me? Why do they al lhate me so?"

Beanie returned to the hearth and threw a few more logs on the fire. "So many strange things have happened in the village since the day you were born." She sighed and stirred the eggs with a long wooden ladler. "A two-headed calf was born the same day as you. And soon after paying a visit to our house, Councilman Forrester pulled two live mice from his ears. He has been deaf ever since. The villagers just don't know who to blame."

I sat myself down on a stool by the fire. Looking at the burning embers, I shook my head. "Aaron Harrison torments me the most," I said. I cleched my fist so tightly, my fingernails dug into my palms. "He struts around with his blond hair like a prince. He leads the other boys against me."

"Try to calm yourself down, Mary." My mother's tone was soft yet persuasive. "I have fresh eggs for dinner and a loaf of bread from the market. Go to the well and wash your face. The cool water will help stop your tears."

I ignored her suggestion. "If only I could pay those boys back. Mother . . . if only I could pay Aaron Harrison back for . . . for . . ." A sob escaped my throat.

"Hush Mary," Beanie whispered. "You shouldn't wish things like this. You are a good girl. I believe you."

But I couldn't hold back my fury. I was so angry, and thinking about it fired me up even more. "How _dare_ they throw stones at me! How _dare_ they call me a witch! I hate those boys! I hate them! I . . . I wish I could make that horrible Aaron as unhappy as I am!"

"Hush now, daughter. No more blasphemy shall go through your lips."

--

I waited in front of the mansion, half-hidden underneath the shade of the giant evergreen tree. Andrew's home. It was so big—and so dark. I was sure they could have afforded proper lighting. It was the Haydens after all. However; I knew of Andrew's situation. How he had suffered from torment given to him by his very own uncle. I had wished for many times to be able to help him. But I knew I couldn't.

As I waited—I wondered what could he had wanted to tell me about that afternoon. He seemed so terrified and so nervous . . .

Minutes ticked past. I heard the chime of the village clock strike midnight—and afterwards one. Was he ever going to come? I was growing tensed then. Anxiety took over my feelings. Where was he? Had . . . something happened to him? Perhaps his uncle . . .

Oh, it was unbearable. Utter torture, it was.

When I heard the chime of the clock striking two in the morning—I left. Mother would have perhaps woken up from sleep and wonder where I was. People in the village might spot me wandering around so late—and it might be further encouragement for them to believe that I was a witch.

Whatever it was that Andrew had to tell me . . . It shouldn't be anything of sheer importance, of course?

Little did I know that I would find out just how important it was, the following morning.

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A/N: Review! It makes me smile. And I'm sure you'd like to see nothing more than a smile on my face. xD

I updated this, Blue Ersatz, and wrote my "happy" one-shot all during this mere barely three-week holiday.

Mission Accomplished!

-_Suzie x_


	9. IX

Author's Note:

God, it took so long to get inspiration for this story. But finally—and I mean _finally—_I'm struck with motivation to write the ninth chapter. I actually was trying to post this up on my birthday (which was on the 11th; sweet fifteen!) but I couldn't. I'm so sorry for the HUGE delay. D:

**Dedicated to Samia-chan. Thank you for the help! :) I love you, Samia. **

_Although I absolutely HATE the changing of point-of-views within the same chapter, I guess I'll make an exception this time. For the moment, Mary and May are like the same person, no? :) _

**

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**

**[ Chapter 9 ] **

[After Dusk]

_SuzieQuaKes_

_

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_

**_Mary_**

The next morning dawned gray and chilly for spring. The sky was clouded as if a thunderstorm was ready to take place. The sun was nowhere to be seen, hidden behind the puffs and puffs of black, gathering clouds. I was wrong not to take the weather as any sort of omen. Beanie served breakfast in silence—cold eggs left over from the night before along with steaming cups of herb tea. I could tell from her face that something was on her mind.

I hadn't slept all night and my head was spinning. I couldn't erase the thought of Aaron and the other boys from my mind. I shifted my weight as I sat on the cold concrete floor. The coolness crept up my legs like a crawling spider as my stockings were ripped and torn. I rested my elbow onto the rough wooden table and choked down an egg. The tea felt warm and soothing down my throat.

A sudden blast of wind made the cottage walls shake and I glanced at my mother. She wasn't alarmed. Noticing the dark ringlets surrounding my mother's eyes, I asked: "Did you sleep, Mother?"

Beanie shrugged her thin shoulders. Her hair—the same color as mine—rustled slightly along with the wind. "A little." She sipped her tea and gazed out of the window. "I see the heather is finally in bloom."

I forced a smile and took a look outside to find that my mother was right. Far away, I could spot the stalks of purple on top of the big green hills, clashing harmoniously with the gray sky. I had always loved the fresh purple heather in springtime. My mother took my hand and squeezed it. "Let's go up the hill this morning and gather baskets of heather. We will fill the cottage with it."

I nodded with a smile. "That's a wonderful idea, Mother. The sweet-smelling heather will cheer me up."

We left the "breakfast" table, not bothering to clean the empty steel cups and plates. Beanie picked up straw baskets from the shed behind the cottage and then we started walking across the field arm in arm. Thunder rumbled through the chill of the morning fog. The grass sparkled from the dew. The atmosphere appeared to be quiet and peaceful.

We had nearly reached the village square when we heard the loud cry of voices. I stiffened a little, bracing myself, almost knowing what the rattle was about. We spun around to see a line of four women running towards us, their aprons flapping about. I took a sharp intake of air.

"Beanie Anderson—hold your daughter there!" One of the women shouted angrily. Her hard spite shone in her eyes. "Do not let her escape."

The basket fell from my hand. A wave of cold fear swept over me. "Mother, what is this about?"

Beanie didn't answer, but instead gripped my hand tighter. She stared as the women furiously approached closer and closer. I recognized Darlene Harrison, Aaron's mother. Her blond hair was flying from under her dark blue bonnet. Her round face was red and stained with tears. Behind her came Rosemary Platt and two Platt cousins. All of their eyes stared at me in utter fury and hatred.

Darlene ran up to Beanie and I, breathing hard, her apron ruffling in the wind. "Witch!" she spat into my face. I was taken back, and the accusing word almost felt like a bitter slap across my face. "Why did you do it? Why did you cast a spell on my poor son?"

Her little blue eyes burned with anger. I shrank away from her, afraid.

"You have done your last evil magic in this village!" Rosemary Platt roared at me and I tried not to cry as I held Beanie's hand tighter.

"Magic—?" I could only reply weakly.

Darlene began to cry into a pale yellow handkerchief, her body heaving with sobs. One of the Platt cousins—Charlotte Platt—patted her back sympathetically before turning to me with a glare. Her lips curled up in menace as she grabbed me roughly by the arm. "Come with me." She seethed and her breath smelt like barley wine. "Come reverse your evil spell—at once!"

I jerked my arm hard, trying to break free of Charlotte's tight grasp. But the women had me surrounded. Darlene had stopped crying, her red face in a scowl. Rosemary had both of her arms planted onto her hips and was giving me a glare. And Anne Platt had a thick frown of distaste on her fair face.

"I do not know what this is about!" I cried and protested. But I knew that it was no use. They were not going to believe me.

"Let go of my daughter!"

The women ignored my mother as if she were not there at all. Darlene Harrison pulled me across the grass. "You will fix what you have done—or you will _suffer _for it. I will make sure of it!"

Forming a tight, angry circle, the women herded my mother and I across the field, through the village square. A small crowd had gathered near the marketplace. they watched in silence as the four women dragged us to the doorstep of the Harrison cottage. Freshly white-washed, the Harrisons' house was two stories tall, the second largest in the village. Of course, the biggest house belonged to Alderman Hayden and Andrew. _Andrew_. Oh, where was he?

"You have poisoned my home!" Darlene cried, tears pouring down her face once more. "You have infected my good home with your filthy evil! I demand that you reverse your spell and save my only son!"

_What does she think I've done?_ I thought to myself frantically. _What is she accusing me of?_

What happened to Aaron?

Darlene Harrison pulled open the wooden cottage door and shoved me inside. I stumbled into the well-furnished home with a grunt. "Aaron!" The woman shouted at the top of her lungs. Her round face looked like it was going to burst. "I have brought her! All will be well now!"

My legs trembling and my heart racing, I squinted into the gloom of the cottage. It took a while for me to spot him, standing on the flat gray stones in front of the hearth. And when I finally recognized Aaron, I opened my mouth and uttered a low cry of horror.

The chicken took a few steps towards me. Its claws clicked on the stone floor. The small black eyes stared into my horrified ones.

I raised my hands to the sides of my face and gaped in horror. Aaron's mother sobbed anew at the sight of her son. From beside me, I heard my mother drew a sharp gasp of breath. I was too astounded to do or say anything.

The chicken had long, wavy blond hair. Aaron's hair.

It titled its head and gazed up at me with one flat black eye. It uttered a long, low _cluck _and stared at me without moving, accusing me. Blood pounded in my ears and I struggled to catch my breath.

"We know this is your doing, Mary." Darlene Harrison whispered. "You threatened the boys yesterday. You promised to turn them into chickens. Aaron told me."

"But—but . . ." I trailed off. I couldn't protest. Not when Aaron Harrison was clucking and trotting on his little chicken legs. It all came rushing back to me. What I had said in my blind fury, the day before. '_I will turn you all into chickens! All of you! You will bend to me and peck the ground at my feet!' _Oh, how did this happen? How _could _it happen? I was not a witch! I didn't have the power to really turn him into a chicken! Yet . . . there he was.

Darlene shoved me towards the long-haired chicken. "Now change him back! Change him back into our son. I'm begging you—if you have any drop of decency in your black heart . . ." She glared at me, her eyes filling with tears.

I struggled to choke out words. In spite of my hatred for Aaron, I felt sorry for him and his mother. "I did not do this." I managed to muster in a tiny voice. "Please—believe me. I'm innocent. I do not know any spells. I have no powers. I didn't do this to Aaron."

The blond-haired chicken clucked again and scratched its beak against the stone floor.

"You must believe my daughter." Beanie spoke up. "She is telling the truth. She is innocent."

"Innocent?" Darlene raged. "Innocent?" She grabbed my brown hair and tugged it back from my forehead. "There is the crescent mark of the witch! Plain as day!" The woman kept on shrieking, her eyes livid with anger. "Innocent? Innocent? With the mark of the moon on her face? With the evil that has cursed this village since the day she was born?"

I suddenly heard footsteps approach the doorway. Low voices. Turning around, I saw Chief Harrison stride into the room, followed by two other men carrying muskets. Harrison removed his tall black hat and stared in shock at the rooster as if he still couldn't believe his eyes. Then he turned towards me.

"Your evil has no place in my home." His voice trembled as he spoke. "My son—my poor boy. Change him back, witch—or suffer the consequences."

"I—I do not know how." I stammered. My breath hitched in my throat. "Please, believe me—"

Harrison narrowed his eyes at me and scowled. A look of menace swept over his rugged face. "I have brought the sheriff from the next village." He announced to everyone in the room. "Since this is Sunday, we cannot act. But I declare, as Chief of Kavlin—Mary Anderson will be hanged as a witch at nightfall tomorrow."

* * *

_**May **_

I gasped, beads of sweat rolling down my face. Opening my eyes wide with horror, I sat up, panting hard, trying to catch my breath. The deadly words echoed in my head_. "Hanged as a witch at nightfall tomorrow . . . " _I trembled and my throat felt as dry as a cotton ball. A sudden bolt of pain shot through my head and I groaned.

"May! Oh my Goodness, sweetheart! You're okay!"

I slowly turned around, still left breathless by what I had been witnessing. What happened to me? But more importantly—what happened to Mary? I looked into dark, concerned looking eyes. A woman. Her face appeared familiar to me, yet I didn't know who she was. She looked at me expectantly, with tears shimmering in her eyes but I couldn't help but just stare blankly at her. Turning my gaze away, I saw that I was in a dimly lit room. Beside me, a monitor beeped steadily. A bottle filled with clear liquid dripped into a tube that led to the needle stuck inside my hand.

It took me a little while to register but I finally realized that I was in a hospital room.

"May." The woman called my name again, drawing my attention towards her face. She reached out towards me and grasped my hand. "Darling, are you all right? I was so worried!"

"M—Mom?" A little flicker of remembrance seized me and I uttered the word that almost seemed unfamiliar. The woman was my mother. Yes, of course! The dark eyes, the auburn locks surrounding the heart-shaped little face, the red dramatic mouth. My mother. Caroline Maple. Why couldn't I remember her at first?

My Mom smiled and nodded, holding my hand tighter. Tears spilled out of her eyes. "Yes, darling, it's me! You're in the hospital." She confirmed my awareness. "I came to your room to give you some soup but I saw you passed out. I had you here right away."

I nodded and then slowly lay down again. My mother immediately reached out and fluffed the pillows behind me. A squeak of the door opening made me divert my attention. Sure enough, the wooden door opened and two men stepped in. I recognized one of the men to be my stepfather. But what was his name?

"Doctor!" Mom exclaimed, leaving my side to rush over to the other man beside my stepfather. As he stepped into the dim light, I could see that he was wearing a white lab coat over a red shirt and khaki pants. He held a clipboard to his chest as he walked over to me. "Doctor, May is awake!"

The doctor smiled in response to my mother's cries and he looked down at me as he reached my side. "Hello, May. How are you feeling?"

I blinked a little and tried my best to manage a smile. "I've been better."

He seemed to understand and didn't question again. He looked down at his clipboard before nodding. "You've been under a lot of stress lately, yes? With the new move and getting into the new school with all these new people . . ."

"No." I suddenly blurted and felt everybody stare at me. I quickly corrected myself in a frenzy."I mean—yes. What I'm trying to say is that this has nothing to do with the new school or meeting new people. I—I don't know what it was, but . . . I was in the past! I was reliving the events of a girl named Mary Anderson. She lived in 1879!"

The doctor stared hard at me. His cold blue eyes bore into my own and he wore that look that said: _are you crazy?_ But all he did was nod slowly and then straightened himself up. "I'm sure your head feels horrible right now and sometimes that causes hallucinations. You'll feel better in a day or two, May."

"It's true!" I tried to protest, but with the look that my stepfather, mother and the doctor was giving me, I had to give up. "Okay." I murmured. "You're right. I'm probably just imagining things."

The doctor ran a hand through his thick dark hair and smiled. "That's okay. We all imagine things." He patted my head and then turned to look at my 'parents'. "I think it'll be good to leave May so that she can rest for a while. You can come and check on her later."

Nobody had any word of complain and silently, they all left the room, leaving me completely alone (or so I thought) with my musings. I knew I hadn't imagined it. And I knew that I was not going crazy. I really _was _Mary Anderson. The girl that was accused and most probably hanged because everyone believed she was a witch.

But then—what was so evil about her? She wasn't a witch! She couldn't possibly be the one that was harming me!

"Hello May."

I gasped and turned to the direction of the voice to find a green-haired boy sitting in a chair, half hidden in the darkness. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him but I quickly scolded myself. This was no time for attractions. How long had he been there? I didn't know. But there was one thing that I knew for sure. He was going to give me all of the answers to my troubling questions.

"Drew." Unlike my mother and my stepfather (whom I still didn't remember his name), I had no trouble with recognizing who this boy was. He flashed me a little smirk and then slowly got out of the seat, walking towards me in small strides. Dazed, I kept my eyes fixed on his every movement as if he was going to disappear from my sight any second. But he didn't. He reached my bedside and looked down at me.

"Are you feeling okay?" His mesmerizing green eyes sparkled under the poor lighting. "I was worried about you, May. I was worried you would never come back."

"I feel fine apart from my head throbbing like there's no tomorrow." I answered his question. Gazing up at his handsome face and asked the question that I wanted to ask the most. "What happened to me, Drew?"

His face tightened and his mouth drew into a tight little line. He sat himself down beside me on my bed. "I think she called you back. You went back in time and saw Mary's life through her eyes. You have to be careful. She's using you, she's using you as bait. Thank God you came back." Drew moistened his lips and gazed down at me. "You almost forgot who your mother was, didn't you? And you don't even remember your stepfather's name. Soon you're going to forget everything, May. You're going be stuck in the past forever. Mary is dangerous, May. I'm sure as hell you know that."

"What are you talking about?" I looked into Drew's serious eyes and felt a shiver of anger wash down my back. He was just like those boys; I thought to myself. Just like them. "Mary's . . . Mary's not a witch! I saw her life through her eyes, Drew. I . . . I knew what she was _thinking_. And I know for sure that she is not a goddamn witch like you people accused her of!"

Drew stared at me for a second before something flashed in his eyes. It was as if he figured something out. A smirk slowly started to spread on his face. "Oh. I see."

I looked at him in disbelief. What was he saying? Why couldn't he just tell me everything that was going on? Drew looked at my bewildered expression before the edges of his lips tugged in an even deeper smirk. "She won you over. She called you back to the time when she wasn't a witch yet. She called you back to the time when she was just like you." He reached out and mused with a strand of my hair. "Just as innocent as you."

I found myself blushing, although what he was saying was far more important than my stupid feelings. Ignoring how close he was, ignoring the enticing scent of peppermint coming from his body, I stuttered: "W—What do you mean?"

"She changed." Drew's eyes suddenly became as cold as gravel stone. He withdrew his hand from my hair and turned away from my face. "She changed into something else. She _chose _to let evil overcome her. And you have to believe me when I tell you this, but you can't let her win you over. I'm the only one you can trust. The _only _one, do you understand, May?"

I shifted my body so that I was staring straight into his green eyes. "Yes . . ." I murmured, out of breath. But this time, I was breathless for a very different reason. Andrew Hayden was so . . ._ breathtaking _when you had him so close to your face. I fixed my eyes on his perfectly shaped face and the beat of my heart quickened. The monitor beside me started to beep louder, in time with my heartbeat. "Sometimes I wonder . . ." I whispered, not quite knowing what I was saying. "Sometimes I wonder why you want to help me so much."

A little smirk formed onto the flawless face of Drew Hayden. "Don't flatter yourself, May. You're the one that's helping me out." His smirk dug deeper, as he lowered his face down towards mine so that our noses were almost bumping. His breath felt so cold against the heat of my neck and sent goosebumps down my spine. "But I want you to know that I do care about you."

He whispered out the words and slowly pressed his cold lips against mine. My body stiffened and blood pulsed through my veins, pumping harder and harder. I closed my eyes and let myself drown in that short moment of ecstasy. It lasted only about two-seconds and when I opened my eyes—he was gone.

Leaving only a taste of peppermint on my lips and a fire burning through my entire body. I reached out to touch my lips with my fingertips and then breathed hard.

_I think—I think I may be falling in love with this ghost._

_

* * *

_

Author's Note:

Short. And crappy.

UghUghUgh.

Nonetheless, please review. :)

_-Suzie x_


	10. X

Author's Note:

Hello everyone! Finally I've gotten around to updating! It's my Thanksgiving break and I've been really packed with work these last couple of days so sorry for the extended delay. But as I promised from my profile, I'm updating! :) I know it's been ages, and I hope you still read this story and like it.

Have a happy thanksgiving and I hope you guys are all having a good day with your families :)

* * *

**[ Chapter 10 ]**

****[After Dusk]

_SuzieQuaKes_

* * *

I exhaled as I stared out of the window of my mother's car. Rain was pouring from above, again—expected. I wasn't even remotely shocked or surprised by this. In fact, the weather wasn't even a part of the mess that was going through my head. Thick droplets splattered against the glass window as I stared at the rolling scenery of Kavlin. The town square. The houses and the people under the dark umbrellas. The late eighteenth century architecture that still stood, after centuries—filled with secrets, filled with knowledge about what went on during those days.

As warm air ventilated from the heating system of the car, my mind wandered across numerous questions that I didn't have the answers to. Who was Mary Anderson? Why did she look like me? What were the dark evil secrets that went on, right here in this town, more than a century ago . . . and why did I have anything to do with it?

Drew . . . Andrew Hayden. Andrew Hayden that was supposed to have died in 1879 but was kept alive for a hundred and thirty years by some supernatural forces. Andrew Hayden that I kissed, just the night before . . . those cold lips that touched mine, piercing into my skin. How could I possibly have kissed a . . . a _ghost_? It was almost impossible to accept, to think about the fact that he wasn't real—that he wasn't _alive_.

What kept him from . . . from really _dying_ like all the rest? What kept him wandering? Most importantly of all . . . what brought him to me?

I didn't know. I didn't know half of the secrets that were hidden in this town, but I had to find out.

"Looks like a storm today." The voice of my Mom cut through my thoughts and I was brought back to the present. She looked at me from the drivers' seat with a concerned look in her auburn eyes. "You sure you're going to be okay going to school today, honey?" We had just dropped off Max at his middle school and the car was approaching Cronk-Memorial High School. The ancient-looking school buildings were just coming into view.

I nodded and managed a smile. I had insisted that I was completely fine and that I would like nothing more to get out of the hospital and return back home. My Mom was hesitant but she soon agreed. The doctors informed her that there was nothing really wrong with me anyway. Truth was, I wanted to get out of the hospital and return back to living my life again—but I also knew that this mystery would surround me until I find out all the answers. What better place to search for those answers than at school? "Yeah, Mom." I tried to say in the best possible voice. "I'm fine. Don't worry, okay?"

Mom looked like she was going to say something but apparently thought better of it as she pulled the car over at the central school building. As the car halted to a stop, she turned to me again and smiled as she reached out to stroke my hair. The lines under her eyes crinkled. "Have a good day at school, May."

I smiled back at her before grabbing my bag from the foot compartment and opening the car door. Quickly, I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head and waved to my Mom as I stepped out of the car, into the roaring rain. I slung the backpack on my shoulder and ran quickly into the shelter of the big roof and entered the building. It was bright inside, the overhead lights turned up so that the sea green lockers glowed with a dull glint.

I took a deep breath and pulled my hood down, shaking the droplets of rain out of my hair before walking towards my locker. Some people that I passed turned to look at me strangely and I heard them whispering to each other. I tried not to mind. It was already expected . . . I knew that it was going to be a tough day, with what happened with Misty and April and the entire school at the cafeteria. Everybody probably believed that I wasn't normal. That I had done something bad to Misty. It was a miracle that she was even alive, with the force that she hit herself against the wall.

"May."

I looked up from the ground into cold blue eyes. Coral Frockling. Just the person I needed right then. She was dressed in a black leather jacket and a mini skirt. Her hair waved at her shoulders. She looked at me in a strange way, I realized. Her eyes were stuck on me . . . sizing me up. What did she want anyway? After everything that has happened between me and her, I didn't think that we had any chances at being _friends_. I let my thoughts be known: "What do you want from me, Coral?"

She glanced around the hallway at all the stares, at all the whispers and frightened looks that people were wearing before cocking her chin up. "I just wanted to tell you that . . . that I want to be friends." She must have seen the look of utter confusion that crossed my face because she shrugged her shoulders with a slight laugh. "I've been where you are. I know what it feels like to walk down a hallway where everybody would stop and stare and talk bull about you. And I want you to know that if you need someone to talk to or hang out with—I'm there."

Coral turned to walk away but I snapped out of my trance-like condition and held out a hand. "Wait!" As she stopped, I continued in a lower voice. "W-Why are you doing this? You _saw_ what happened the other day, right? I-I thought that . . . that you believed that _I _did that."

She shrugged her shoulders a second time before reaching to draw a wisp of blonde-brown hair away from her face. "I don't know what happened that day, May. But I'm willing to forget about it." Then a different expression came onto her face as her lips drew in a smile. "Hey, there's this party happening tonight at the Kavlin Park. A barbecue and stuff. People from the school are going to be there. You should come."

Without another word, she walked away from me. As I stared at the spot where she stood, I couldn't help but think to myself—what was going on? One moment, Coral was hating on me, _scared_ of me and the next, she wanted to be my friend and invited me to some party? I sighed to myself and with a shake of my head, I walked towards my locker. I was getting sick of school.

No, I was getting sick of life in Kavlin.

* * *

The rest of the morning passed in a blur. I couldn't really find the strength or desire to really concentrate on my classes and I kept my head down to avoid all the stares and whispers. I was never so glad when the clock struck one. Lunch time. It was time for me to do some research.

I took a quick bite off a tuna-fish sandwich as I headed towards the big, old-fashioned library in the west campus of Cronk-Memorial High. I spotted Charlene and April walking together to the cafeteria, laughing about something and their faces turned grim as I passed by. April pretended to look at something to her side while Charlene fixed her eyes on her phone, pretending to text. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I didn't want to fight with them—especially since they were like the only people aside from bipolar Coral, who tried to actually be my friends. Yet I knew that I couldn't fix things, at least not right now.

I needed to figure things out myself. I needed to know myself exactly what was going on before I could fix anything of this.

What I needed to know was the history of this town. Of Kavlin. Of what happened in Kavlin, years and years ago.

I entered the library, walking quietly passed the smatter of people that were working quietly in the laid out tables and chairs. It was lunch time, so there weren't much of a crowd—only those who had a major assignment due or the few anti-social ones. I guess I fitted that category now. I still had an agenda though and I knew what I had to do in here. I walked over to the nearby counter where the librarian sat, clicking on her computer. I cleared my throat as I approached her and she looked up with her glasses sliding down her nose.

"Can I help you?"

"I wanted to find some old newspapers and stuff from the nineteenth century." I told her. "Some research about Kavlin during those times . . . Preferably those related to . . . witchcraft." Seeing the look that came across her face, I quickly interjected, "It's for a history paper."

She nodded slowly and looked at me carefully. Probably she too had heard about the "spell" that I casted over Misty the other day. I just wanted everybody to forget about it already. "I see. Well, we don't have actual newspapers from those days, but we do keep files of headlines. Just head over to Section C and pick out the time period that you want. You should find what you're looking for."

I murmured a thank you and headed over to the heavy-looking ancient bookshelves. Each section was marked with a faded silver sign. I passed Section A, glancing over the content in the shelves. It looked mostly like fiction books and I walked by them without interest. Section B was filled with textbooks, autobiographies and other non-fiction publications.

Section C was located around the corner of the library, with three mahogany bookshelves that were marked with different months and years. It looked exactly what I was looking for. I stopped and looked over the different dates marked on the shelves. The 2000s . . . 1990s . . . I walked down the aisle, glancing over at all the little signs. My heart started to beat against my rib cage as I approached closer to my destination. The 1890s . . . 1880s . . . And there it was. 1879. The year that was written in Drew's diary.

I couldn't contain my hands from shaking as it wandered across the different files marked by different months. _January 1897 . . . February . . . March . . ._ The entry that I read in Drew's diary was written in December . . . so I needed to find some earlier newspapers. I decided that something in the middle would suffice so in a sudden frenzy, I placed my hand on a file in the middle. It turned out to be June's publications.

Grasping it in my hands, I made my way over to a nearby desk and sat myself down. With extremely shaky hands, I flipped through the first few pages. The headliners mainly consisted of things that I wasn't interested in . . . Floods, crop failures, some wealthy man's establishment of a new public school . . . I was nearing the end of the month when something finally caught my eye.

"_Three Slaughtered by Mysterious Beast.__" _

My eyes darted across the small typography. Apparently, three school boys who snuck out at night were found in a crop field, brutally slaughtered. I winced as I continued to read. The boys were torn to pieces and their clothes were shredded by what appeared to be sharp teeth. It was regarded as an attack by a wild creature living in the forests and the article ended right there. I let out a deep breath through my dry lips. Maybe that was what it was—just an attack by a wild grizzly bear or a wolf pack.

I flipped through the rest of June, and found another similar article. It was lengthly, describing in pages about the victim. This time, it was a lady. Her name was Lady Anita von Scheven. She was part of the von Scheven family—a legacy that had dominated the Western oil supply and gained uncountable amount of riches. She led a promiscuous life: going out at late hours, dancing and lived for utter excess and material. She was found twenty miles south of her home, abandoned in the same field that the boys were found.

The field . . . I stared at the black and white photo taken of the crime scene. It was wide . . . but the rows of corn crop were scattered and some appeared to be rotting. It seemed so familiar . . . I felt a certain closeness with it. I closed my eyes and envisioned the scene in the photograph. The sun shining from above, the light smattering onto the rows and rows of failed crops. A stench of rotting soil filled the air . . . I closed my eyes tighter, trying to focus on the image. Why was it so familiar?

The sense of desolation was full in the air, the dry crops crinkled as the wind blew softly. I breathed out slowly, my eyes still closed. There was a girl. She was humming a soft song as she twirled in the middle of the field. She had no shoes on her feet and her wild mop of dark hair flew everywhere. A smile set on her young face, her eyes twinkling. The humming grew louder. It was a slow tune. So slow . . .

Suddenly the humming stopped and all was still. Not a cloud moved in the sky, not a single rustle. A look of fear came onto the girl's face as her eyes opened wide. A dark shadow fell upon her and she turned around in a sudden frenzy. Her tattered dress flapped in the wind as she ran deep into the crops. The shadow chased her . . . It was gaining on her . . . And suddenly, there was an piercing scream that tore through the silence.

"May!"

I opened my eyes wide, my heart beating loudly in its cage. A girl stood in front of me, looking at me with a look of confusion on her face. It was Coral. I ran my tongue across my dry lips. I still could not get the scene out of my head. "Coral? Were you the one that called my name?"

She raised her eyebrows at me and took a seat facing me. "Uh, yeah? You were totally dozing off." Her ice blue eyes dropped to the files scattered across the desk. "What are you doing? What is all of this?"

I bit my lip nervously. I wasn't sure that I was ready to tell her what I was doing. I could never trust her. Worse of all, I didn't know what was happening to me. Did I just imagine the entire thing I saw? Was I really dozing off like Coral said? Just falling asleep and randomly dreaming? My head throbbed as I closed my eyes again for a slight second. "Nothing." I finally said. "I was just bored so I was looking at all of this."

She didn't look like she believed me. She grabbed onto a file before I could stop her and flipped through the pages. "Are these old newspapers?" Her eyes darted up to gaze into mine. "From the year 1879."

I looked back at her, shrugging my shoulders—pretending like the year was of no particular reference. "Yeah, I just picked something random . . ."

"My ancestors were one of the founders of this town." She flipped through the files once again, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. "My great-great grandfather was part of the original settlers—at least that's what my aunt tells me. Apparently a lot of crap happened back in those days."

My ears perked up a little bit. I tried not to appear _too _curious so I attempted to sound casual. "What do you mean?"

Coral shrugged her shoulders, her eyes still focused on the newspaper articles. "I don't know. People back in those days believed in supernatural stuff way too much. They thought that Kavlin was a town full of these supernatural creatures and apparently my descendants trace back to alpha dragons." She looked back at me with a roll of her eyes. "Dumb, right? But my family _really_ embraced it. Apparently, we're a rare breed."

I swallowed and let out a forced laugh. "Yeah, that sounds really weird!"

Coral rolled her eyes again. "Tell me about it. Anyway, stop reading these stupid old newspapers. They're freaky." She flipped the file shut and stood up, leaning against the wooden chair. "Let's get out of here. Class is almost starting."

I nodded and gathered up the files to put back in their original positions. This was just getting way too complicated.

* * *

"Hey honey! How was your day?"

My mom greeted me as I rushed into the car and slammed the door shut. Finally, school was over for the day. Coral was being freakishly nice to me the entire day. I just didn't understand that girl. She could act like my worse enemy one day and then want to be my friend again. She continuously reminded me of the party that was happening tonight. I hadn't decided whether I should go or not yet, but I told her I would keep her posted.

"May?" I realized that I hadn't answered my Mom's question. She gave me a little look of concern and I tried my best to smile and her and appear normal. I shrugged my shoulders. "It was okay." I placed my school bag into the foot compartment of the car and turned around to the face the back seats. "Hey, Max."

My brother looked up from the book that he was reading and slid his glasses up his nose. "Hi, sis." Ralph—our dog—was sitting beside him, his tongue slightly out in a pant as he wagged his tail at me. I smiled at the dog, for no particular reason. It seemed that ever since I got caught up in this entire mess, I was getting distanced from my family and things that mattered. That made me want to find out the answers even more. I wanted to end all of this. I wanted to go back to living my life.

"What are you reading?" I asked my brother. It just seemed like I hadn't talked to him in forever. He shrugged his shoulders without looking up from the book.

"The Great Gatsby."

"That's a good book." I told him with cheerfulness.

He shrugged his shoulders again. "I know. I'm reading it for the third time."

I wanted to say something more but it seemed like he didn't want to talk to me anymore, so I sighed and turned back around. My mom kept her eyes on the road as she drove carefully out of the high school car park. The ride back home was in an uncomfortable silence, at least for me. If Max and my mother felt any uneasiness, they didn't show it. I kept my eyes on the window and the rolling scenery.

The rain had stopped and the party plans for tonight were full on. I decided that I should go to the party. This stupid mystery surrounding my life shouldn't keep me from having a good time at school. It had already done enough damage. I was already being considered a freak at school—I needed to do something to change that.

We arrived back to the house soon and I quietly went up the stairs and into my room. The gloominess of the room stayed, despite my attempts at brightening it up with my posters and photos. I tossed my backpack onto the floor and threw myself on the bed with a sigh. It had been a long day.

"Hi, May."

. . . And it seemed like the day just kept getting longer. My head darted up a little from the bed, startled but calming down once I saw who it was. I guess I had been expecting to see him. He had just disappeared since that kiss that we shared. The kiss . . . I didn't even want to think about it right then. The green-haired boy smirked at me as he stood in front of my window. He still wore his old tattered jacket and trousers.

"You really have got to learn how to stop barging in." I told him as I slowly heaved myself up and leaned against the frame of my bed. I crossed my arms over my chest at him.

Drew's smirk carved deeper as he took a few steps towards me and sat on the edge of my bed. His usual scent of peppermint and musk drifted up my nose and a certain sense of cold spread across my bedsheets. "What can I say? Old habits die hard."

I tossed my hair back and looked at him cautiously. I licked my dry lips and let out a breath through my nose. "So, what do you want?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Can't I visit?"

"Come on, Drew." I rolled my eyes at him. "Since when did you ever _just_ visit? What's going to happen this time?"

The amused twinkle disappeared from his eyes as he stood up from my bed. I had to admit—I missed the sudden lack of fresh peppermint in the air. He walked over to my desk and mused with my school books. "You can't go to the party tonight."

I sat up a little more from the bed and raised a brow. "How did you know . . ." I trailed off before just shaking off the question. He had a way of knowing everything anyway. "_Why?__" _

"I just feel it, May." He told me and turned around to face me with his bright green eyes. "I can sense it. Call it intuition, if you like."

I frowned. I didn't know why, but I just felt so frustrated. I wanted to shout and scream. So many things were going through my mind and I felt like I was about to go insane. Or maybe I _was _insane. Maybe I was just imagining all of this—imagining Drew, imagining Mary, imagining the little girl . . . "No." I firmly said and observed the startled expression that darted into Drew's eyes. "I am going to that party, Drew. I cannot keep on giving up everything just for your stupid mess. I can't."

He stared into my eyes, the bright emerald so striking. "Come on, May. You know what's best for you."

"Yes, I do!" I exclaimed. I just couldn't take any of this anymore. "That's why I'm telling you—I am going to that party. I can't keep on living like this."

"Something dangerous is going to happen!" He took steps towards me until he stood right in front of me. His eyes pierced into me and his face appeared stern. "I know you lack in the brains department but I'm sure you have the least bit of self preservation in you."

"Shut up!" I exclaimed and stood up from the bed so suddenly that he took a few steps back in surprise. "Stop it! Just stop! I'm just a normal girl, trying to get through my life." I felt tears prick my eyes and for the first time since months, I felt like bawling my eyes out. "I don't want any of this. I didn't ask for this—I didn't ask for _you!_ I don't want to be a part of it!"

"It's no longer a choice." His statement was so firm, so strict. His lips drew together in a tight line. "You are involved in this, whether you like it or not. If you have learnt _anything_ from these past few days, you know that there are things happening—things you can't control. If you have any bit of sense in your brain, you'd know to listen to what I tell you."

I opened my mouth to say something but suddenly, he was gone. I threw myself back onto my bed and felt tears stinging my eyes. A few droplets fell from my eyes and ran down my cheeks. Why was this happening to me? Why _me_? I never wanted any of this . . .

My phone buzzed in the pocket of my jeans and I dug it out. Apparently I had received a text message. It was from Coral, and she was asking me whether or not I was going to the party because she was going to pick me up if I was. I thought for a moment. According to Drew, something dangerous was going to happen. But concerning this entire evil surrounding this town and _me_, something dangerous could happen at any time. He warned me that I should know what was best for me . . .

I rapidly wrote back a reply and hit send. I tossed my phone back onto my bed and got up from my bed to wash myself up.

_"Sure. Come pick me up at 7. Looking forward to having a good time. -May."_

* * *

__Author's Note:

Be sure to review everyone!

_-Suzie x_


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